Monthly Mashup: October Edition

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It’s that time of year when the weather turns crisp and the proud citizens of New York bundle up in their winter gear. But before we head off into the mother of all holiday seasons, let’s take a look retrospective look back at some stories from the past month.  Here are some of our favorite posts from around the net, as well as our more popular stories from October in this month’s Mashup.

One on One with Credit Karma’s Ken Lin - We spoke to the CEO and founder of Credit Karma, a new internet start-up that allows you to check your credit score whenever you want. We got the 411 on how the site works and where they plan to go from here.

The Under $60 Work Outfit - The Budget Fashionista showcased a great example of budget shopping with her $60 Work Outfit.  Find out how you can look fabulous for pennies on the dollar.

5 Well-Paying Careers You’ve (Probably) Never Considered - Now can be a rough time for students looking into future career paths.  With layoffs aplenty right now, the usual career paths may not be such an enticing route.  Check out these five career paths that are blossoming despite the recession.

8 Fun Recession-Proof Activities - You don’t have to stop your social life because of rising prices and stagnate salaries.  There are still ways to entertain yourself at home and around NYC –  even when you’re on a shoestring budget.  Check out our 8 recession-proof activities for some low-cost NY fun.

Six Benefits of Bill Consolidation - Consolidation doesn’t have to mean defeat.  There are many benefits of consolidating bills and we’ll take a look at six of them.  Take a look at them and get your finances under control and back on track.

Gotta Travel? Take the Bus! - With air travel sky rocketing (excuse the bad pun), it’s no wonder people are looking for alternate travel means.  Check out these four bus companies that are helping NY’ers ease the pain and costs of traveling.

Consumers Feel the Next Crisis: It’s Credit Cards - The New York Times takes a look at the credit card industry, and how the current economic situation is affecting the way they pick and choose lendees.

5 Simple Meals Made with Ramen - You may not be able to afford a fancy dinner, but that doesn’t mean that you have to spend five nights a week rotating between beef and chicken flavored ramen.  Take a look at our five fun and easy meal ideas to spice up that ramen.

Switching to Cheap Beauty Products - Drugstore spending can easily spiral out of control — especially for women purchasing makeup and beauty products.  Read up on how to trade in those expensive products for budget alternatives.

Work Out for Cheap: Alumni Gym Memberships - Gym memberships are super expensive these days, but staying fit and healthy is still a prime and valid concern for most people. Think you can’t have both?  It may be more possible than you think.  Check out our list of NYC alumni gym memberships.

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Negotiating A More Attractive Compensation Package

Quite a few companies right now are relishing in the fact that due to current economic conditions, they are able to get fresh college graduates for not much more than a pretty penny since there’s an influx of well-educated, qualified candidates for a only a handful of jobs.  In short - companies can pay less and still get quality candidates because it’s better to be underpaid than not paid at all. Read more

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Creating a Last-Minute Halloween Costume (on the cheap)

According to the National Retail Federation’s survey, Halloween costume spending has increased this year to 5.8 billion this year compared to 5.07 billion last year. Statistics are showing that each consumer will spend approximately $64.82 each on costumes. Spending money as a way of escapism from financial hardships is not an acceptable method of therapy. So, in order to persuade you NOT to spend $65 on a one-time wear, we’re offering some cheap costume tips that will help keep that wallet padded.

Keep reading for some cheap and fun last-minute costume ideas that will run you less than $30.

1. Super Mario
What You Need: Red T-shirt, Overalls, Brown shoes, white gloves, and Black felt.
What You Do: Cut out a mustache from the black felt, use double-sided adhesive to attach it to your face, and throw on the aforementioned outfit.

2. Tinkerbell
What You Need: Green tights, wings, green skirt and shirt, scissors
What You Do: Cut the bottom of the skirt in a V (or zig zag) patten (see here). Put on your green tights, attach your wings, grab your wand, and BAM - you’re ready to go.

3. Waldo
What You Need: A red and white striped shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes, and a red or white pom-pom cap. (I realize that his cap was red and white striped, but the odds of finding one of those are close to non-existent)
What You Do: You basically just get dressed.

4. Laundry
What You Need: Cheap, small, circular laundry basket, sturdy ribbon, miscellaneous t-shirts, towels, and underwear.
What You Do: Cut a hole in the bottom of the laundry basket big enough for you to fit around your waist. Tie two long strands of ribbon to each side of the basket (front to back) so that it hangs on your shoulders like suspenders. Drape miscellaneous clothing/towels/underwear around your body and off of the laundry basket.

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Need Some Winter Boots? Here’s 20% Off!

Remember those Friends and Family Sales we were talking about before?  Well, here’s another one.  If you’re like me, then you’re pretty hard up for some boots for the upcoming (and supposedly nasty) winter.  And if you’re going to have to splurge for some appropriate footwear, you may as well get a discount, no? Read more

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The Hidden Costs of Investing

We hope you guys are taking full advantage of the bearish stock market right now and buying up bargain stocks for your portfolio. But since stock purchasing can be a confusing maze of percentages and fees, we’ve decided to throw together a list of typical investment fees to be aware of and — in some cases — to avoid. Read more

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Find Daily Bargains with GoToDaily

LifeHacker featured another really cool website the other day called Go To Daily.  A cross breed between Coupons.com, Retail Me Not, and a social networking site, GTD is an online shopping community with deals not only limited to food, but to clothing, electronics, books, flowers, gifts, health & beauty — even office supplies.  Read more

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One on One With Credit Karma’s Kenneth Lin

I was introduced to Credit Karma a few weeks ago at a Quicken media event courtesy of a chance meting with a company representative who gave me the scoop on the site. The prospect of obtaining free credit scores was more than a little bit awesome, so I thought it wise to probe deeper to get an understanding of just how Credit Karma pulled it off. This led to an opportunity to chat it up with Credit Karma’s CEO and Founder, Kenneth Lin to find out a little more about the company, its goals, and how it’s able to produce no-strings-attached free credit scores any day of the week. Keep on reading for some behind the scenes info (and a few credit building tips!) on one of the most helpful and beneficial websites to hit the interwebs.

1. When did Credit Karma officially launch?
Credit Karma launched its beta service in February 2008.

2. Aside from your service being free, what are the benefits of using Credit Karma instead of just getting a free credit report each year?

We have three core value positions for consumers.

First, we provide consumers free access to their credit score anytime and as often as necessary without any hidden fees or obligations. Second, we provide educational tools and content to help consumers better understand how credit and credit scores work. Third, we provide access to offers and incentives based on credit score ranges. Today many of the offers come from financial services companies. We are currently expanding into other industries including cable, wireless and insurance, just to name a few.

3. Do you have a background in the credit scoring industry? And is Credit Karma your first entrepreneurial venture?
I do. I started my career working for a Credit Card company building scoring models and evaluating default risk about 10 years ago. Since then I have managed online marketing programs for pro-consumer companies like E-LOAN and Upromise.

Credit Karma is actually my second entrepreneurial venture. I founded an online marketing company in 2006 which helped shape the business model for Credit Karma.

4. What inspired you to start Credit Karma?
Having worked with great consumer brands like E-LOAN and Upromise and financial pioneers like Chris Larsen, I saw an opportunity to build a service that could help consumers better understand and access credit.

Prior to Credit Karma, there were only a handful of ways to access your credit score and most of them had hidden fees or obligations. Considering that a credit score is probably the most important metric of a consumer’s financial health, I think free access should be a fundamental consumer right. So I set out on finding a way to provide this service for free.

5. What is your mission for the Company, and are you more focused on just making credit scores available or is there a focus on helping people improve their credit scores and offering them ways to increase it?
We are focused on demystifying credit and making credit scores available to all consumers for free. In today’s economic environment, credit is more important than ever. Our service is built to educate consumers on the importance of good credit, maintain and manage credit health and then reward good credit through offers.

6. A lot of the sponsors on the site are for credit cards. Do you think it’s a conflict of interest since a majority of Americans are already in good deal of credit card debt? Credit cards present a great convenience when used properly. In many cases, they are also the backbone of a consumer’s credit report and history. We stress education and proper management of debt. For example, our site provides consumer unbiased user feedback on credit cards along with editorial recommendations based on usage type, credit score and member experience.

Everything on the site is geared to help consumers become more informed about finances whether it is loans, credit cards, savings rates, or even cable services.

7. Where do you pull your credit scores from? Is there a specific reason why you chose that credit bureau?
We are currently using TransUnion as our credit bureau. We chose them because they share our vision of helping consumers.

8. I think a lot of people are worried that pulling their credit score each day will lower it. Does using Credit Karma affect a person’s score in any way?
Checking your credit score on Credit Karma does not impact your score. This is a common misconception. The truth is that pulls initiated by the consumer for the consumer’s own use will not lower the score.

There is a strong need for education in the market on this and other issues related to credit especially right now. We hope Credit Karma can help educate consumers on managing their credit score over time and provide tips, tools and simulators to support better decision-making and improve individual credit health.

9. Do you plan on expanding the Company and in what ways?
Our expansion is centered on two key areas. Better tools and content and better offers and incentives. Better tools is all about making credit easy to understand and transparent. Our recent launch of the credit simulator is a prime example of this vision. The Credit Karma simulator predicts the affects of various everyday financial actions against your credit score. The simulator is custom for each individual’s credit report. For example, applying for a credit card may lower one consumer’s score by 25 points on one, and only 2 points for another.

The second component is finding more partners to provide incentives to our members. Getting rewarded for good credit is the concept of “karma”. This aspect of Credit Karma’s offering will continue to grow over time.

10. Do you think that you guys will ever expand to include credit reports along with the scores and would that even be possible to offer for free since it seems like that would be taking income away from the credit bureaus?
Today, by law consumers can already get their credit report for free on annualcreditreport.com. We didn’t see much value in spending resources building something consumers already get for free. The score was the missing component. It is probably the most confusing aspect of credit so we decided to tackle this first.

We have a number of features and offerings in the pipeline based on user feedback and requests. We do not pose a threat to the bureaus as we pay for all data on the consumer’s behalf.

11. I noticed that you have a credit simulator that’s a bit more in depth than most credit score simulators that I’ve used before. Is there a way to offer tips for improving your credit score that are based on each person’s credit history?
I think our credit simulator is quite unique. It is customized by every user’s unique credit report. This is just the first step in our vision. We will continue to explore tools that provide user recommendations, educate the consumer and provide guidance for better decision-making.

12. Our website caters to a young, 20-something crowd that doesn’t have a long credit history. What are some tips for our readers to build their credit score without having 10 years of credit history and struggling to pay their student loans and credit cards on time each month?
We really stress financial responsibility. There is no easy way to build good credit. That means it takes years to build good credit and a few missed payments to destroy it. The best practices are:

1. Know your credit. You can’t improve it if you don’t it or if you don’t know how it works.
2. Pay your bills on time. Using credit is good and helps build your credit history but you have to pay on time to get this benefit.
3. Set a budget. If you are struggling to pay bills, you need to prioritize and have the fortitude to stick by it.
4. Find the right products. Whether it is a credit card, s student loan, or an auto loan, different products can cost you thousands over the life of the loan in interest and fees. Generally the better the credit, the lower the interest so use the knowledge to improve your score and then improve your rates.
5. Continue to learn. Financial health is complex. Use the content on creditkarma.com and other pro-consumer sites to be aware of trends in credit and financial products. Education can save consumer hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest and fees over a consumer’s lifetime.

Copyright ©2008 by LifeStyler

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Low-Cost Coney Island Halloween Fun

Dreamland Roller Rink has played host to many bright and cheery skate parties, but this weekend Lola Staar and her creepy compatriots, Cha Cha’s and Captain Bob, team up to take ghouls and girls on a walk on the wild side with Coney Island Day of the Dead Extravaganza. Read more

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5 Well-Paying Careers You’ve (Probably) Never Considered

The current rough financial times gets one to start thinking about the availability of interesting and recession-proof jobs — something outside the standard middle management number crunching. I was curious to dig up some jobs that aren’t the most obvious of career paths, but that pay well and offer a foray into an interesting industry.  Here are five jobs that are a little off the beaten path, but have room for significant growth over the next five years.

1. Librarian

These guys have to stay on top of their game when it comes to researching, being knowledgeable about various and multiple topics and staying abreast of current media and publishing trends as to be able to efficiently organize, store and find various bits of information.  Librarians not only work in public libraries, but are employed by universities, private schools, and the government.

Median Salary: $43,974

2. Translator/ Interpreter

Translate conversations and documents from one language into another. This obviously requires fluency in two or more languages, but the main points of this job is that fluency in multiple languages in the US is pretty uncommon which makes these candidates highly sought after. Many translators work for an agency that hires their translators out for specific jobs, but depending on what type of medium you focused on, you could most likely gain your own clients and work remotely.

Median Salary: $44,123

3. Environmental Consultant

Environmental consultants will probably be the next big thing in careers due to the growing concern of global warming and utilizing green business practices. EC’s monitor environmental legislation and use make sure that their company is complying with government rules and regulations. They also carry out environmental impact tests and review new company projects before they’re executed in order to maintain green working environments.  Environmental consultants can work for any type of company, but will most likely be hired to work in manufacturing or engineering, since those company routinely need to follow environmental safety procedures with plants and factories.

Median Salary: $52,923

4. Forensic Science Technician

Forensic science technicians are a small pool of professionals in a career that is expected to grow exponentially within the next three to five years.  These professionals work primarily for state and local governments under the supervision of a scientist or advanced technician organizing scientific data, organizing evidence, and interpreting scientific results.  Forensic science technicians work in a crime laboratory and spend much time at crime scenes collecting evidence for the lab.

Median Salary: $49,750

5. Actuary

Actuarial work is for the math whizzes out there. If you’re into probability tables and statistical data, you’ve met your match. Actuaries work for consulting firms, insurance companies, and pension administrators to calculate numbers for premium payments, liability risk, and cash reserves. The work isn’t glamorous, but it caters to a certain personality and is a good fit for someone who enjoys problem solving and mathematical equations.  The majority of actuaries work for insurance firms, as the business cannot function without them.  However, some are also employed by pension consulting firms and government agencies by helping manage Social Security and Medicare.

Median Salary: $86,975

*Median Salary numbers taken from PayScale.com’s 2008 Salary Survey Report.

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Cheap Halloween Treats for Trick or Treaters

The average American household spent around $40 for Halloween candy last year, and according to The Nielson Company, the price of candy and chocolate has increased this year.  Read more

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