Research Blog : personal finance

Support EVPL & save money with a free home energy assessment

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:51:00 GMT

With the record-breaking temps we've had this summer, many are looking for ways to reduce their utility bills.

Energizing Indiana offers free home energy assessments to those who apply. An Energy Advisor will visit your home to perform the assessment. You'll receive step-by-step guidance; energy saving products, such as CFL bulbs, low-flow faucet aerators & shower heads, and insulation for your water heater; and a comprehensive report detailing additional ways to make your home more energy efficient.

This service is free, and the library Foundation will receive $25 for every energy assessment conducted through EVPL. Reduce your energy costs while helping our library Foundation!

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For information about our other environmental initiatives, visit www.evpl.org/goinggreen.

Paying for college

HelperBee@evpl — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:10:00 GMT

The start of a new school year is a good time to think about how to pay for college, and the library is a great place to explore some of your options. Ask at the Information Desk to be shown to a wide selection of books, from savings to scholarships.

You can even search for scholarships with our Testing & Education Reference Center database. Just choose the College Prep Tools option, followed by the Scholarship Search link. You will need to register, but it's well worth the time because this database has a lot to offer, and not just for those headed to college.

Finally, don't forget to check out our Useful Websites page, where we've gathered some sites for the College Bound.

We have a lot of great resources for anyone looking to pay for college, including at least one DVD. So be sure to check it out!

New credit card rules

googler@evpl — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:15:00 GMT

Back in May, President Barack Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure, or Credit CARD, Act of 2009 into law. The legislation will help out consumers in a number of ways (but does not cap interest rates and fees). Most of this law's provisions go into effect very soon, on Feb. 22, 2010.

One of my favorite consumer credit and money websites, BankRate, has a good rundown of the law's most notable benefits to consumers. These benefits include no more retroactive rate increases; more advance notices of rate increases; the end of "double-cycle billing" (the practice of charging interest on debt already paid off); and at least 21 days instead of 14 between the issue of a statement and payment due date. (While you're there, check out their credit card section.)

MSNMoney has a good article too, in which they note that while credit cards will become easier to understand and more transparent, they can also become more costly over all and harder to get.

And last, the personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly has a post that explains the pros and cons. This author, too, feels that the law will make credit cards harder to get: "Today, and at least for the next year or so, I believe consumers will have difficulty obtaining new credit cards, especially consumers with average credit or worse. This is bad news for those stuck in a high-rate situation."

Other posts in Get Rich Slowly, by the way, might be able to help you become less dependent on credit cards.

Free e-book on personal finance

googler@evpl — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:24:00 GMT

The Simple Dollar, a personal finance blog that I've seen cited many times, is giving away a 50-page PDF, "Everything You Need to Know About Personal Finance on Just One Page." Definitely worth the 4.4 MB download, it starts off (just as it says) by giving you one single page of core advice on earning, spending, and investing, then fleshes it out over a mere 49 pages.

Of course, the Library offers a huge number of personal finance books, including many titles recent enough to take the current financial situation into account. Some of the titles published in 2009 include:

Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy by Stephen Leeb
The Cure for Money Madness: Break Your Bad Money Habits, Live Without Financial Stress--and Make More Money! by Spencer Sherman
Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Out of Debt by Ken Clark
Gimme My Money Back: Your Guide to Beating the Financial Crisis by Ali Velshi
The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even the Toughest Times by Jean Chatzsky
J.K. Lasser's Guide For Tough Times : Tax And Financial Solutions To See You Through by Barbara Weltman
Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity by Adam Hamilton

The facts about mystery shopping

googler@evpl — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:24:00 GMT

I ran across a blog post on mystery shopping, which we often get questions about at the library. We have a few books on it, although the major publishers haven't put one out recently. (Mystery Shopping Made Simple (2004), by Newhouse, is the most recent from a well-regarded publisher.)

But the post at WiseBread does a great job of laying out the facts and pointing the reader to reliable web resources. WiseBread is an excellent site, by the way, for personal finance resources. And don't miss the "forums" link at upper right, to get a taste of their online community. Online communities, particularly when they're a part of a well-run, focused website, are excellent resources for getting tips and information.

Business Central Now Open For...(wait for it)...Business!!

Bufkinite@evpl — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:21:00 GMT

On Wednesday, October 15th, the Metropolitian Evansville Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting on the second floor of Central Library to open a new, business-focused area of Central's reference and non-fiction collections.

Business Central is many things:

It's a place within Central Library, on the second floor. This location gathers legal and business reference materials, and a cooperating collection of the Foundation Center, with numberous reference resources for finding grants for non-profit and not-for-profit corporations. It also offers an extensive circulating collection of materials dealing with management, commerce, international commerce, marketing, public relations, customer relations, finance, planning, and career development and advancement.

It's a web presence with the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library web site that links to resources within the library and on the web that have to do with everything from starting a business to managing time, money, and personnel.

It's a team of library professionals who know business and the information needs of entrepreneurs and business professionals.

So whether you've already got a business up and running or are planning to start one; whether you're looking for capital or strategic planning information; whether you're doing in-depth market research, or just wanting to stay abreast of current business and economic trends, Business Central is your destination for business information!

Battening down your financial hatches

googler@evpl — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:37:00 GMT

Lifehacker has a good article on making sure you're in the best shape possible for any economic downturn. They recommend making sure your savings are FDIC insured, continuing to reduce your debt, not panicking about your investments, and recession-proofing your career, among other things. There are lots of links to all the financial experts they're drawing from. Well worth a read!

A blog I recommend for personal finance in general is Get Rich Slowly -- they always have sensible advice.