Yahoo! Personal Finance: Mundane

The big announcement this past week that Yahoo!, the net's oldest, largest portal/search company was launching a personal finance section was met with a long round of yawns from the visiting public.

The space offers little that couldn't be found elsewhere on the web, even elsewhere on Yahoo itself. Offering "how to" guides on such mundane topics as choosing the right college IRA, how tax changes will effect your return and mortgage basics, aren't anything new.

The landing page offers those, plus articles from the likes of Suze Orman, Robert Kiyosaki and Laura Rowley, things to do (forget resolutions), word of the day, and a roll of current articles shows that Yahoo! is still missing the ingredient that makes for truly great companies: innovation.

I found Yahoo! Personal Finance to be more of the same and barely worth a return trip.

Credit cards: Handle with Care

My lifetime experience with credit cards has been less than satisfactory. Much of the time I used credit cards for unnecessary purchases and later found myself with unwanted payments. Actually, having and using credit cards has negatively affected my credit rating because of a few missteps on my part and some rather dubious practices by the card-issuing companies which I disputed - to my detriment.

My sister, however, 6 years my junior, has fared much better, using credit cards with great discipline, carrying a small balance, using the cards for needed purchases and paying them off within the grace period at no interest. Thus has she achieved a stellar credit record over the years.

Obviously, how one uses credit and credit cards will in a large way determine one's credit rating, which carries great influence in today's highly-leveraged environment.

Credit ratings and records are used in everything from purchasing a vehicle, home, or establishing individual store revolving credit to employment and security screening. It's gotten to the point where three companies - Equifax, Experian and Trans-Union control our destinies to an unwanted degree.

If you are interested in furthering your understanding of credit cards check out Credit Card News.

For information on proper use of credit cards, credit repair and more, see Credit Card Advice.