Facebook posts

The most closely watched initial public offering in years will be taking place later this month, as the Internet social media phenom Facebook gets ready to enrich itself to the tune of many billions of dollars.
Unfortunately, as USA Today explains, it's going to be near impossible for the average Joe investor to take advantage of it. While analysts differ on whether it's a wise investment in the first place, it still irks many that small players never get a chance to be part of the action. Then again, some suggest that waiting is the best strategy when it comes to a company who they believe has already seen its biggest rise in value.

CLICK PHOTO TO SEE RECORD-BREAKING U.S. IPOs

When you're talking about life and health insurance, the question of whether or not people have sufficient coverage is fairly regular and recurring. Recently, I've come to wonder if the same questions are or should be as prevalent when talking about homeowner's insurance as well.

I suspect most people do have enough house insurance, but there are also a few things that have occurred which make me wonder: A neighbour's house burned down recently, taking the contents and her entire sewing business with it; the news here is always full of cottage-related accident stories which make me wonder about liability; a friend showed me an amazing ring she received as a gift (I strongly urged her to get a separate rider to cover it) and I was talking to another friend about the collectibles and equipment he keeps in his basement.

Does any of this sound familiar or similar to your own situation?

Have you ever bought a stolen car? Are you sure? If you leave your car or truck running unattended and it gets stolen, in addition to the insurance costs and headache, did you know that vehicle could end up financing terrorism?

It sounds extreme, but I kid you not, vehicles from North America have been used in car bombings, and export of stolen cars has become big business with whole shipping containers full of luxury vehicles with Ontario license plates turning up in places like Ghana and Lebanon.

And those are just the big, blatant cases that are making your insurance premiums soar. Back to that cheap car you found on Kijiji or Craigslist – how do you know for sure it isn't stolen?

Related:
Top 10 Stolen Cars in Canada
Why People Commit Fraud
Stories From the Insurance Fraud Capital of Canada

It was hard to do, but in the same week I started researching this hypermiling thing, gas prices spiked to almost $1.30 a litre. It was also the week I got my first real speeding ticket. I took all of it as a sign from the Fates that I should probably slow down a little.

I'm not a speed demon by any stretch, but I do tend to go most places while travelling about 10km over the limit. I am sensitive about using my brakes unnecessarily (to save gas yes, but more to save my brakes), and I've always known that better driving can = better fuel economy. Still, this particular experiment astonished me. In one round trip, by following a few really simple rules, I managed to save almost $30 in gas.

"Hyper-what?"

It was a Tuesday morning and I'd just read that gas prices were going up again this spring. My stomach was curled up in a tight little ball, and I'd just written to a friend that I wasn't sure what we were going to do about the fairly regular road trips we take across the province and back, each month.

I had to Google hypermiling to find out what she was talking about. It turns out there are whole clubs full of people across the continent who play games with themselves, their vehicles, and sometimes each other, in order to wring the very best fuel economy they can out of their cars.

Now, I've always known that smarter driving can mean better bang for your buck in the fuel economy department, but I had absolutely NO idea just how much could be saved by following a few simple rules. I was skeptical, but I tried them, and I was floored: On my very first tank of gas trying this, I think I saved almost $30.

Facebook's initial public offering has focused yet another spotlight on the social networking site and on Mark Zuckerberg, its iconic leader. But beyond the hoopla surrounding the IPO, there's another, quieter story to be found in the wunderkind CEO: The lessons about life, personal finance and career that can be gleaned from his choices.

David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World -- the only book about the site written with Zuckerberg's full cooperation -- offers an insider's view of what we can learn from the 27-year-old billionaire, while challenging some of the conventional wisdom on the inscrutable entrepreneur.

Here, according to Kirkpatrick, are the key ingredients in Zuckerberg's recipe for success.

Liked this article? Don't miss another one. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

You might be surprised by this but people from virtually every walk of life have been known to get credit counseling help.

It seems everyone out there is working to rack their debt up to record levels lately. With that development, we're also starting to see a boom in the number of debt settlement companies hanging out a shingle in an effort to attract new customers.

Those working in credit counselor positions say their service is primarily about financial rehabilitation, not the quick fix being promoted by a lot of new debt settlement companies operating in Canada. In reality, the "solutions" promoted by debt settlement organizations, often require you to push your accounts into default before settling. The process isn't a quick one and, arguably, it isn't much of a fix either.

Liked this article? Don't miss another one. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz, The Motley Fool

Now that Facebook has filed its paperwork to go public, we're getting our first real glimpse at the inner workings of the world's largest social networking website.

It's pretty impressive.

Let's set aside the potential for Facebook's valuation to get out hand. We're still several weeks away from actual deal pricing and retail investor reactions. What we have now are the company's fundamentals.

Let's dive into a few of the numbers that may surprise you.

So are you tired of hearing the repeated platitudes about how you should change your passwords and keep them safe from those who might steal your information? Personally, I can't keep up with the passwords I do have. And you want me to keep changing them too?

Related:
The 25 Worst Passwords of 2011
The Most Common Hiding Places for Workplace Passwords

When it comes to cyber security, though, passwords and malware are just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. Even this tiny tip though, if ignored, can create a significant and vulnerable weak point which can compromise your own information and the information at companies you work for. You could even, unwittingly, allow your computer to be part of a larger network which attempts to bring down country infrastructures.

Depending on how you look at things, this can either sound hysterical or just too big for one person to worry about.

Liked this article? Don't miss another one. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

We all know companies and people the world over are competing for the money in your wallet. Would you believe there's stiff (and growing) competition for your debt too?

Unfortunately you probably shouldn't go running out to jump in with the first company that promises to settle your debt difficulties (were it only so simple!)

Still, if you troll websites like Facebook, if you've ever keyed some debt-related query into Google or if you listen to the radio, you've undoubtedly seen or heard advertising from companies promising relief "if you qualify." (Note: As discussed earlier, any claims that such programs are part of some government-backed initiative are complete balderdash – be careful!)

If the debt-freedom prospect appeals and you are looking at this as one of your options to getting there, one of the first things to know is that there's a difference between companies who negotiate debt settlement deals with your creditors and the more traditional not-for-profit credit counseling organizations.

Liked this article? Don't miss another one. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.