Blog Posts by CBS MoneyWatch.com

Beach wedding - Getty Images - CBS MoneyWatch.com

By Constantine von Hoffman

With fewer and fewer Americans getting married, what's the best way to improve your chances of finding someone to put a ring on it? Stay in school and get rich.

Barely half of all adults in the U.S. are married, an all-time low, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. In 1960, 72 percent of America's adults were married; today, it's 51 percent. If trends continue, married people will soon be in the minority for the first time in U.S. history.

While the number of marriages has declined, the desire for marriage hasn't. More than 60 percent of unmarrieds say they want to get married. And, while more people than ever think marriage is "an obsolete institution," that belief doesn't alter how much people want to participate in it. Nearly 40 percent of Americans agreed that marriage is going the way of the rotary phone (up from 28 percent 40 years ago). However, 47 percent of the unmarried adults who said this also said they'd like to

Read More »from Marriage Chances Rise with Your Salary

By Farnoosh Torabi for CBS MoneyWatch.com

Why fight the mall crowds when you can online shop from the convenience of your home (or work, as it is)? Throw in free shipping and it's kind of a no-brainer. In fact, a growing number of shoppers plan to purchase their holiday gifts online this year, with many starting today, on "Cyber Monday" - the online equivalent of Black Friday. A new survey by Shop.org estimates about six in ten workers with web access (or 76 million people) will shop for gifts from the office today.

Five Ways to Crush Cyber-Monday Shopping

Pregnant Women's Biggest Career Fear

Are Some Women too Delicate for the Workplace?

The Most Money You Can Make in 3 Hours

Gift Cards: 4 Rules for Smart Shopping

If that includes you, here's a cheat sheet of web-exclusive deals this Cyber Monday.

Amazon.com

The online retailer's "Cyber Monday Store" opens at midnight on Sunday and lasts through the end of the week. Deals Read More »from Cyber Monday 2011: Deals from Wal-mart, Target, Best Buy and More

By Robert Pagliarini for CBS MoneyWatch.com

Comedian George Carlin famously spoke about the "seven words you can never say on television," but the following seven seemingly innocuous words/phrases might be even worse. To say them is almost like dousing your goals, hopes and dreams with sulfuric acid.

-- 4 Things NOT to Share with HR

-- Cut Your Stress: 6 Smart Tricks

-- Biggest LinkedIn Mistakes You're Probably Making

-- 6 Things Never to Post on Facebook

-- How to Start a Business with NO Money

Creating a better life is hard work! It takes little effort to maintain the status quo, but if you have a dream of making more money, getting a promotion, starting a business, becoming healthier, or improving your relationships, you're going to need as much support as you can get. Strike these seven deadly words/phrases from you lexicon today:

1. When. This is a filthy word when it comes to Read More »from 7 Phrases NEVER to Use at Work (or Anywhere Else)

By Amy Levin-Epstein for CBS MoneyWatch.com

Job interviews are never easy. And they're especially stressful when opportunities are so few and far between, with unemployment hovering at just under 10 percent. (More worrying, a third of jobless people are dealing with long-term unemployment.)

-- 4 Things NOT to Share with HR

-- Biggest LinkedIn Mistakes You're Probably Making

-- 6 Things Never to Post on Facebook

-- 9 Great Job Interview Tricks

-- Dream Jobs: 6-Figure Salaries You Can Actually Get

When you score a coveted interview, the single most important thing you can do is prepare and practice, by doing both a run-through with an industry-savvy friend, and recording yourself and then doing a self-review. This will help temper your nerves and help you work on weaknesses. Then, choose your words carefully once you're in the room. Here are 5 things never to say to a hiring manager:

1. Something They've Heard a Million Times Before

Some people just Read More »from 5 Things Never to Say in a Job Interview

By Farnoosh Torabi for CBS MoneyWatch.com

It never occurs to me to do my grocery shopping at the drugstore - although my local Duane Reade pharmacy has recently been making a strong push for it by expanding its food aisles and adding ready-to-eat meals.

5 Things Not to Buy at CVS

Cheapest Days to Shop Online

Save Big at the Supermarket: 9 Tricks

Strange but True: 10 Weird Ways to Save Money

6 Prices You Should ALWAYS Negotiate

But it turns out that plenty of people do find it convenient to one-stop-shop - and they're paying for the privilege, according to a new survey.

ConsumerWorld.org, a consumer education web site, just conducted a pricing survey in the Boston area, tracking 25 common grocery items - both foods and household products. It found the average drugstore charged 50% more than the least expensive supermarket: $102.94 vs. $68.55 for the basket of goods studied.

Stores in the Read More »from What NOT to Buy at the Drugstore

ThinkstockBy Farnoosh Torabi for CBS MoneyWatch.com

When was the last time you checked your credit report?

I know; it's not the most exciting way to spend your lunch break - but you may want to take advantage of your annual free credit report (available at annualcreditreport.com) and review it for possible errors. Nearly 75% of respondents in a recent poll by CardRatings.com said they had found at least one error in their credit report.

Mistakes on your credit report can be costly. Your credit score could suffer, making it more difficult to qualify for the best interest rates on credit cards and consumer loans. Depending on the severity of the error, you also could find yourself at risk when applying for a rental or even a job.

CardRatings offers the following steps to properly fixing your credit report inaccuracies.



1. Gather the Evidence

Once you've detected an error - whether it's a false record of credit card delinquency or a loan that you never took out - start collecting any and all

Read More »from Credit Report Mistakes? 3 Steps to Get Them Fixed

By Amy Levin-Epstein for CBS MoneyWatch.com

With hiring all but at a standstill, job seekers can't afford to miss any tools available for promoting themselves. And according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is the newest way that employers are reaching potential employees. So if your Facebook page is just a way to stay in touch with friends from high school, you're missing a great opportunity.

-- 4 Things NOT to Share with HR

-- Biggest LinkedIn Mistakes You're Probably Making

-- 6 Things Never to Post on Facebook

-- 9 Great Job Interview Tricks

-- 6-Figure Dream Jobs You Can Actually Get

The first step is hiding personal information, especially wall posts, through stringent privacy settings - for example, by specifying that tagged photos of you are visible only to you.

Then, develop the rest of your page to appeal to recruiters that might be using Facebook to find Read More »from Job Hunting? 9 Changes for Your Facebook Profile

By Sarah Lorge Butler for CBS MoneyWatch.com

Last summer I tackled the issue of how much to pay the babysitter. It's a question my friends ask me a lot. Here, I believe, is the guiding principle: Round up.

-- How Much Should You Pay the Babysitter?

-- Why Your Dentist Costs So Much

-- How Much Does the Tooth Fairy Pay?

-- What NOT to Buy at Walmart

-- 10 Baby Things You Don't Need

Babysitting is tough work, and you don't want to nickel-and-dime the person who is taking care of your offspring.

This should seem obvious, but it's not. Ask any babysitter, and she (or he) will tell you of a time they got stiffed. I still remember one night when I was a 14-year-old sitter and a couple failed to mention they'd be out until 4 a.m. For the 10 hours I spent with their two kids, they paid me $20. And my grandfather, with whom I was living that summer, stayed up the entire time worrying about me.

Read More »from 8 Rules for Paying the Babysitter