Blog Posts by CBS MoneyWatch.com

By Kathy Kristof for CBS MoneyWatch

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cashiers or food service workers. There are millions of jobs in these professions, but their average wages are paltry, amounting to less than half the pay of the average American worker, according to just-released data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

-- 15 Best-Paid Jobs in America

-- 6-Figure Dream Jobs You Can Get

-- What NOT to Post on Facebook

-- 10 High-Paying Jobs with No Future

-- 4 Big LinkedIn Mistakes You're Probably Making

While the highest-paid jobs in the country are concentrated in the medical field (though there are dozens of jobs that pay six-figure incomes in a wide array of professions), America's lowest-paid positions are predominantly in retail and food service.

The average American earns $44,410 annually, according to the latest BLS ranking of some 800 positions. Most of these jobs, on theRead More »from 10 Worst-Paid Jobs in America

Mechanical engineering is a top choice for a major that will yield better pay.By Lynn O'Shaughnessy for CBS MoneyWatch.com

If you want to increase your chances of landing in a high-paying job, be strategic when picking a college major.
Common wisdom has always suggested that what matters is getting a college degree, but a new study by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, suggests the college major you select does matter greatly in your future earnings.

The massive study, which mined Census Bureau data on three million college graduates of various ages, concluded that Americans with the highest-paying majors earn roughly 300% more than those with the lowest paying college majors.

-- 20 Craziest Job Interview Questions

-- Dream Jobs: 6-Figure Gigs You Can Really Get

-- 25 Colleges with the Worst Professors

-- Disappearing Jobs: 10 Top Careers with No Future

-- 4 Big LinkedIn Mistakes You're Probably Making

Getting a college degree - any Read More »from Best-paying college degrees: 8 tips

20 craziest job interview questions (Thinkstock)By Lynn O'Shaughnessy for CBS MoneyWatch.com

Nobody has to tell you that it's a rough job market. So when you do finagle a job interview, you'll want to shine.

To get you prepared, here are 20 real job interview questions that such companies as Google, Capital One and Goldman Sachs asked internships candidate. The interview questions were compiled by Glassdoor.com, an online job community that encourages people to anonymously share that inside look at jobs and companies.

• Procter & Gamble: Sell me an invisible pen.
• Facebook: Twenty-five racehorses, no stopwatch, five tracks. Figure out the top three fastest horses in the fewest number of races.
• Citigroup: What is your strategy at table tennis?
• Google: You are climbing a staircase. Each time you can either take one step or two. The staircase has n steps. In how many distinct ways can you climb the staircase?
• Capital One: How do you evaluate Subway's five-foot long sub policy?

Read More »from 20 craziest job interview questions

By Jerry Edgerton for CBS MoneyWatch.com

With gas bills putting a crimp in your budget, you don't want to be wasting money on other car expenses. But many car owners do just that - either spending more than needed on maintenance or putting off work that will cost more later.

-- 5 Used Cars NOT to Buy

-- Dumbest Things You Do While Driving

-- 6 Prices You Should ALWAYS Negotiate

-- Cheapest (& Priciest) Cars to Drive Now

-- What NOT to Buy at Walmart

To be smart about your car, you need to do the right amount of on-time maintenance - while resisting mechanics' pitches for unnecessary work. "With advertising that emphasizes maintenance-free cars, people may have the idea they don't have to take care of them," says George Sadowski, education manager at the Norwood, Mass., campus of Universal Technical Institute, a leading provider of training courses for auto mechanics.

But while neglect Read More »from 10 Ways You Waste Money on Your Car

by Catherine Holahan and Bob Trebilcock for CBS MoneyWatch.com

While Walmart has returned to its emphasis on rock-bottom prices recently, there are still some product categories where you are better off shopping elsewhere - either because you're straying beyond Walmart's core competency or you would be supporting the giant retailer's bad behavior. Here are four of them.

-- 6 Things You Should Buy at Walmart

-- What NOT to Buy at Target

-- 6 Prices You Should ALWAYS Negotiate

-- Strange but True: 10 Weird Ways to Save Money

-- Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money

1. High-End Electronics

Though Walmart's selection of name-brand electronics is not bad, the company is still focused on value-oriented products in the sub-$1,000 price range. And the sales staff tend not to be experts in the finer points of multimedia interface. So if you want to splurge on a top-of-the-line television or SLR Read More »from What NOT to Buy at Walmart

By Carla Fried for CBS MoneyWatch.com

So much for money being everything. For decades, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) leaned on Gross Domestic Product as a central measure of the relative well-being of its member countries. The basic idea was: Find the countries with the best economies and figure that's home to the happiest citizens. Pinpoint the economic laggards and you've got the saddest.

-- State by State: Best & Worst Housing Markets

-- 9 Ways Your Money Is Making You Sick

-- What NOT to Buy at Walmart

-- Where Do the Obamas Put Their Money?

-- 14 States with Greatest Job Growth

No more. As the OECD puts it: "In recent years, concerns have emerged regarding the fact that macro-economic statistics did not portray the right image of what ordinary people perceived about the state of their own lives. Addressing these concerns is crucial, not just for the Read More »from Happiest & Saddest Places in the World

By Stacey Bradford for CBS MoneyWatch.com

When it comes to my children, I'm happy to pay a bit more for food if it means I can keep the kinder healthy. I used to think it was enough to buy organic meat and produce to avoid antibiotics, hormones and pesticides. Now, thanks to ShopSmart Magazine, from the publisher of Consumer Reports, I've added some new concerns to my list.

-- 10 Baby Things You Don't Need

-- Diet Plan Review: Best Way to Lose 20 Pounds

-- Save Big at the Supermarket: 9 Tricks

-- Toddler Gear: When to Skimp & When to Splurge

-- Forecast: Food Prices to Rise Higher

Here's what you should consider the next time you walk the grocery store aisles:

Meat

I'm an unapologetic carnivore and I love hamburgers right off the grill. While I've always known it's better to grind my own meat to avoid things like E. coli, there's now another thing I have to worry about. "Many supermarketsRead More »from Is Your Food Safe? 4 Rules for the Grocery Store

By Sarah Lorge Butler for CBS MoneyWatch.com

I used to think the holidays were the most expensive time of year, what with the presents, decorations and Christmas cards. But if the pile of bills, proposals, and camp brochures littering my desk is any indication, summer is running a strong second for seasonal money suck.

Here's a sample of the expenses, both big and small, that I'm looking at:

• The tree guy wants $700 to prune back several bushes and our cherry trees, whose low-lying branches scrape the car every time we drive up the driveway.

• -- School Sports Costs Out of Control?

  -- 5 Things NOT to Tell Your Kids About Money

  -- Save Big at the Supermarket: 9 Tricks

  -- 9 Ways Your Money Is Making You Sick

  -- Is Your Dentist Ripping You Off?

• The septic tank guy needs $250. I'm not going to argue that

Read More »from Sneaky Costs of Summer Fun