Save on utility bills by reading the fine print

Reading the fine print on utility bills and calling to negotiate new rates can seem like time-consuming tasks best left for another day. But if time is money, those minutes can be real moneymakers.

Compare what you pay to rent vs. buy a modem or TV remote from your cable company, and it will be a real eye-opener.

Put your cellphone bill side-by-side with a prepaid wireless plan -- even after factoring in the purchase of a phone -- and you might want to close your wallet to the big wireless carriers.

Brad Wilson, author of the new book Do More, Spend Less, says he spent 13 minutes on the phone with his cable company and got $50 a month knocked off his bill. He calls the company about every six months to negotiate a new rate.

There may be more competition than you realize in the basic services you need in life. From gas companies to garbage collection, there is often little shortage of upstart businesses dying to lure you away from the mainstream choices in your area. Read your bills more closely and decide whether or not you think it's fair to pay what you're being charged. Read more >>

Only 6% Rate News Media As Very Trustworthy

Most voters still get their news from television and consider the news reported by the media generally trustworthy.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of Likely U.S. Voters say they get most of their news from TV, including 32% who get it from cable news networks and 24% who get it from traditional network news. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that another 25% use the Internet as their main source of news, while only 10% still rely on print newspapers. Seven percent (7%) get most of their news from radio.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of all voters regard the news reported by the media as at least somewhat trustworthy, but that includes just six percent who think it is Very Trustworthy. Forty-two percent (42%) don’t trust the news media, with 12% who believe the news it reports is Not At All Trustworthy.

Last September, as the final stretch of the presidential race heated up, 40% of American Adults said the Internet was the best way to get news and information in today’s world, while 37% viewed television that way. Nine percent (9%) rated radio as the best source, and seven percent (7%) chose print newspapers. TV broadcast news was considered the most reliable, followed by the Internet and newspapers. Read more >>

Bankruptcy filings surged 14% during the first half of 2010

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Courtesy CNN
It's tough out there -- no jobs, home values plummeting -- and Americans are reacting by heading to bankruptcy court.

Bankruptcy filings surged 14% during the first half of 2010, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. Filings totaled 770,117 through June, compared to 675,351 during the same period last year.

"Years of rising consumer debt and low savings rates, combined with the housing and unemployment crisis, are causing bankruptcy levels not seen since the 2005," said Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the institute, in a press release.

In 2005 Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code, making it harder for Americans to file and sparking a rush to file by October of 2005, when the amendments kicked in. In 2005, bankruptcy filings totaled more than 2 million.

By comparison, Gerdano expects there will be more than 1.6 million new bankruptcy filings by the end of 2010. The institute also said that bankruptcies totaled 126,270 in June, a jump of 8.5% from the same month in 2009, when they totaled 116,365. The institute relied on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center for its information.

Companies With the Greatest Risk of Bankruptcy Over the Next 12 Months

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Audit Integrity, a research firm, has come out with a list [pdf] of American companies which are most likely to go bankrupt in the next year.

Rite Aid Corporation
Sirius XM Radio Inc.
AMR Corporation
Federal-Mogul Corporation
Textron Inc.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Continental Airlines, Inc.
CBS Corporation
Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Liberty Media Corporation
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Macy's, Inc.
Mylan Inc.
Apartment Investment and Management Co.
Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.
Redwood Trust, Inc.
Oshkosh Corporation
Amkor Technology, Inc.
Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc.
Sprint Nextel Corporation