San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has an agreement with a prosecutor in his home state of Washington that could settle his misdemeanor marijuana charge, The Columbian reported Friday. The Vancouver, Wash., newspaper said Clark County prosecutors have reached a deal with a lawyer for the 2008 Cy Young Award winner that would result in a $250 fine for possessing a marijuana pipe.
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On Monday, One of Michael Jackson’s kids lead the charge as he and his group of cousins and siblings left their weekly karate class.
Looking appropriately disheveled after the workout, the children headed back home in the care of their nanny. Jackson’s daughter Paris and youngest son Blanket were also on hand.
Filed under: Personal Finance, Dr. Boyce Money
Sometimes your finances can get so out of whack that you can only laugh in order to keep from crying. Well, I am a big advocate of the art of laughing, so I thought I would share five symptoms that show you might be a credit card crackhead. As we know, millions of Americans have been sucked into credit card addiction, especially before the recent financial crisis, where the average savings rate for American consumers was actually less than zero.
African American wealth is also affected, as many of us in the black community are very good at whipping out the credit card to handle any old financial concern. Here is a list of five ways to know that you might be a credit card crackhead:
1)Are your roommates and children trained to tell the bill collectors you’re not home? Running from bill collectors might make sense, but you eventually have to deal with them. I recommend working with a consumer credit counselor, who can help you to renegotiate your debts. Many of them can save you thousands of dollars in the process.
2) When shopping, do you whip your credit card out faster than John Wayne’s gun? Food, clothes, haircare products are not the kinds of things that should be purchased with a credit card. Credit card use should be limited to major and emergency purchases. Using cash is an easier way to keep a cap on your spending. You might want to get a set amount of money out of the ATM every week and don’t spend more than that amount.
3)Do you break into a cold sweat when you make a charge because you think that your credit card might be maxed out? Yes, a maxed out credit card is embarrassing. But banks have made it “easier” for you: many of them will go ahead and pay the charge if you go over your limit. In fact, they encourage you to overspend. Why? Because they will charge you a massive fee for doing so, to the tune of nearly $40 per transaction.
4) Do you do the happy dance when you get a free credit card offer in the mail? If you are smart, then you would just throw it away. These offers are not as prevalent as they were before the financial crisis, but the credit card crackhead has a problem with seeing credit card offers as free money. Most of us think we need credit cards, but really you don’t. One credit card is usually enough to achieve your financial objectives.
5)Do you have so many credit cards that your wallet hurts your butt? Or if you are a lady, do you have credit cards for all of your favorite stores? If so, the high interest payments you are making are probably killing your ability to save money. Get rid of store credit cards, since they encourage you to overspend on meaningless junk. They also tend to charge outrageous interest rates.
When it comes to managing a credit card addiction, it’s all a matter of making wise choices. Credit is a good thing and very powerful, but it should also be used responsibly. Get your butt in rehab right now.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of the forthcoming book, “Black American Money.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.