Archive for September, 2009

The Pantone Fall 2009 report takes the most fashionable colors of the season and interprets them for the world of print advertising. But it’s not only fashion and graphic designers who are taking note. This season’s top credit and debit cards are stylish, fashionable and functional - we’re staying economically wise by only rating prepaid debit cards. Here’s a roundup of the top five credit (debit) card designs for fall 2009:

#5: MetroPCS Prepaid Visa Card

The MetroPCS Prepaid Visa Card is a bold, two-color card designed with purple and “burnt sienna” from this season’s Pantone report. It’s a simple, eye-catching design that can be a good match for both male and female card holders.

#4: AccountNow Prepaid MasterCard

The futuristic design of the AccountNow Prepaid MasterCard may be a good fit for the tech-savvy cardholder looking for an edgy, fashion-forward look. The color combination on this card includes “majolica blue” from the Pantone color lineup that inspires “a sense of smoky calmness.” This card has a combination of blues, grays and black that may be a good match for both male and female cardholders.

#3: Facecard Prepaid MasterCard

“Warm olive” is a popular color for fall 2009, and the Facecard Prepaid MasterCard is a single-color credit card designed in this simple, eye-catching color. The light green tone can be a good match for both male and female cardholders.

#2: BabyPhat

For cardholders interested in a celebrity-inspired design, the BabyPhat card offers plenty of style with its slinky BabyPhat feline logo and its famous BabyPhat pink hue that has been named “rapture rose” on this fall’s Pantone color report. The card will help you make a bold fashion statement during any shopping trip, and can be a stylish addition to any fashionista’s wallet.

#1: Current by Discover

Current by Discover is designed exclusively for teens and their parents, and cardholders can choose from one of seven attractive designs. Parents have the freedom of setting spending limits and restricting use in unwanted shopping categories, but teens can choose from a variety of stylish designs that best suite their personality. Design choices include a pink skull and crossbones, dance club scene, blue and white stripes, silver eagle wing or goth design, green and white skull and crossbones, a rainbow retro look and a cityscape.

Credit card companies are bringing us some fresh and stylish designs to dress up our wallets and to show off our sense of style this season. From celebrity-inspired cards to simple, sophisticated designs, cardholders of all ages can choose from a variety of fresh new styles for fall 2009.

Sabah Karimi

Although most people work to live, some folks are lucky enough to have jobs that they truly love. Will Schuester, the central character in the Fox’s series “Glee,” enjoys his teaching duties so much that he actually pays for the privilege of taking over a high school glee club.

The Opposite of a Salary

Schuester, nicknamed “Mr. Shoe” by the students, owns a car with a muffler that hangs so low it scrapes the road. Although his true passion is performing music, Schuester makes his living teaching Spanish classes to the students at McKinley High School. After the faculty adviser to McKinley’s Glee Club is fired for inappropriate behavior, Mr. Shoe asks to take over his duties. Unfortunately, the penny-pinching principal makes him agree to pay $60 each month to cover the costs of this extracurricular activity. Schuester also must monitor after-school detention for several months without pay to guarantee practice space for the Glee Club.

Teaching in Lima

“Glee” is set in Lima, Ohio, a town where the average salary for a teacher at Schuester’s level is $39,470, according to Salary.com. Thanks to his devotion to the Glee Club, he has to forfeit $720 of his annual gross salary, plus any additional money that he could have made during the hours he spends in detention.

Spending Habits
If Terri’s spending behaviour is a reflection of her spending habits, at best the Schuester’s likely carry a balance and at worst are in debt. Balance transfer or low interest interest credit cards would be a smart move, but not without a change in how the money is managed.

Schuester’s wife, Terri, works four hours a day, three days a week at “Sheets and Things,” which sells bedding and other household goods. Based on Ohio’s hourly minimum wage of $7.30, she contributes $87.60 to the household income before taxes. Unfortunately, Terri also takes her Pottery Barn credit card for regular outings, which forces the Schuesters to live paycheck-to-paycheck.

Her husband, on the other hand, is a pretty conservative spender as witnessed by his dangling muffler. The only time he shows any plastic in the pilot episode is when he uses a credit card to scrape gum off the shoe of a pretty, germ-phobic co-worker named Emma.

A Planned Pregnancy and a Career Change

Just when Mr. Shoe has rounded up some truly talented kids for Glee Club, Terri discovers that she is pregnant, which, along with finding a reliable glue gun, has been one of her life’s ambitions. A new baby costs quite a bit of money each month, which means that his teaching salary just won’t cut it anymore. At Terri’s insistence, he applies for a lucrative accounting job.

Waiting for the Other Financial Shoe to Drop

To stay at McKinley and do the work that he loves, Schuester is going to have to make some hard choices. With a wife that spends way above their means and a baby on the way, he must find ways to make additional money. Schuester is devoted to his Glee Club kids, but he’s also an honorable husband and father.

However, there is a very noticeable attraction between him and the cute, wide-eyed Emma, which is bound to cause some marital friction down the road. If he happens to end up in divorce court, he can expect Terri to take him to the cleaners financially.

Watch “Glee” online at Fox.com/glee today, and on Wednesdays this fall.

Steven Bryan

At the beginning of the credit era, consumers used charge cards. Charge cards allowed people to make purchases with convenience, but charge cards had to be paid off in full at the end of the billing period. This relic of a bygone era may actually be helpful for consumers who are taking a second look at debt incurred by credit cards and looking for a new way of doing things.

Advantages of the charge card

With consumers turning increasingly to frugality in their daily lives, taking “staycations” instead of going long distance, eating out less and concentrating on building up savings and decimated retirement accounts, a charge card could be the ideal solution. Here are some of the advantages associated with using a charge card:

• No credit limit
• Fewer fees (avoid overdraft fees that can come with debit cards and over the limit fees that come with credit cards)
• Less chance of carrying debt, since the balance must be paid regularly
• The convenience of using plastic to pay
• No need to worry about reloading the card (and the fees that come with it)

Drawbacks to the charge card

Of course, there are some drawbacks to using a charge card. The low fees and favorable terms do come with an annual fee. However, this is often low enough that you can easily afford it–not to mention the fact that it is often lower than paying the fees (interest, etc.) that come with credit cards. Another downside is that American Express, which is the main charge card network, is not as widely accepted as credit card networks run by Visa and MasterCard. And, having to pay off the balance each month means that buying things you can’t afford right now is not really an option. But perhaps that is an advantage; you are forced to wait and make sure you can pay for what you purchase.

In the end, you have to assess your financial situation and needs. But you might be surprised to realize that a charge card might be the right fit.

Jean Marquit