Linda Stern

Here's something new to consider loading onto your iPod: a program that will track the device and then report back with its whereabouts. Several technology companies are starting to sell, or give away, software that's supposed to do just that.

Want a piece of all that China-India-Brazil stock-market action you keep hearing about? Most financial advisers tell their clients to keep some of their money invested abroad.

You can refinance your house and your car--why not your life insurance? Rates on term policies have dropped significantly in recent years, thanks to longer life expectancies and better investment returns for insurers.

Andrew Keeler Partner, Everhart Financial GroupThe pension law that went into effect Jan. 1 encourages employers to offer retirement- investing advice to their workers.

The U.S. housing bubble may have burst, but many American investors are looking at real estate in Europe and Asia. It's been a smart play: foreign real estate doesn't move in tandem with the U.S. market, so it can be a good way to diversify.

Green is the new black, at least for clothing companies providing environmentally friendly textiles. Ingeo is a new fiber made of fermented corn sugars. Manufactured by NatureWorks, a subsidiary of agri-giant Cargill, Ingeo is now showing up in everything from socks and shirts (ecowearusa.com) to carpet tiles (interfaceflor.com).

Maybe it's time your kids started pulling their weight. With tough new kiddie tax rules, it doesn't pay to feed their savings accounts: the interest they earn is taxed at your rate until they're 18, and next year that goes up to 23, as long as they're students.

Here's the silver lining of the mortgage mess: those cash-strapped banks are raising the rates they pay on certificates of deposit and money-market accounts to bring in more green.

Who needs banks when you've got Facebook? Peer-to-peer lending sites are drawing more borrowers and lenders who prefer to make their deals directly with each other.

There's an easy way to protect yourself from identity theft without spending time and money on costly credit-monitoring services: just freeze your credit file.Credit-file freezing is relatively new.

Linda Sherry: Director, National Priorities, Consumer Action

September can be a painful time for small-business owners: their quarterly estimated taxes are due on the 17th. Next year could hurt even worse. The Internal Revenue Service will scrutinize more small-business returns to try to collect more of the $68 billion in lost tax revenue created by owners who underreport income.

Small hospitals use technology to run remote ICUs.

Here's an idea for anyone who's ever felt the traffic blow by a busy highway: why not capture the wind created by the cars and turn it into energy? That's the thought behind two new alternative-energy projects.

Marketing execs have been tagging new consumer types—from yuppies to alpha males—for decades. But to replace those outmoded labels, the New York branding firm Consumer Eyes has profiled nine new 21st-century consumer groups setting market trends now.

Small hospitals use technology to run remote ICUs.

Here's where you don't want to spend your summer vacation: on the tarmac at JFK. Or sitting at the gate in O'Hare. Or waiting around in Detroit, Charlotte or any of the other stressed-out airports that are helping to make this air-travel season the worst ever.

Products from China used to be associated with bargain prices. Now they're associated with health threats. In May, pet food carrying the industrial chemical melamine killed dozens of pets across the United States.

Doug Fox is your basic boomerang kid. One year after graduating from Franklin & Marshall College, he's comfortably ensconced in what used to be the private nanny wing of his parents' Falls Church, Va., home.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center says that restaurant dining doesn't just hurt your diet, it blows your budget. Consumers are most likely to splurge on eating out and entertainment--and that's where they want to cut back, too.

He's downstairs at the desk, and he looks and sounds like the hotel concierge. He even made your dinner reservations and got your clothes cleaned. But he, or she, may not be a concierge, but a ringer: a ticket broker whose company pays the hotel to let him pretend to be.Outsourcing concierges is becoming popular, especially at midtier hotels.

Your shoes know where you've been, but they haven't been talking. That now may change, thanks to new athletic shoes from Miami-based designer Isaac Daniel.

Every kid wants his own credit card. Now companies are rolling out prepaid cash cards that let you transfer money automatically from your account to their wallets.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the art of romance has dwindled in recent years. To put a little heat back in the hearth, why not spend Valentine's Day--and night--with a luxury getaway, period-drama style?

Tech stocks have had a nice run. In the last five months of 2006 they were up 20 percent, outperforming the market significantly. Some investment pros are predicting more growth ahead.

Tech stocks have had a nice run. In the last five months of 2006 they were up 20 percent, outperforming the market significantly. Some investment pros are predicting more growth ahead.

With home sales sagging, TIP SHEET's Linda Stern asked Combs for advice.Sometimes this means putting both properties on the market to see which sells first.

You may not be Bill or Melinda Gates, but you can still create a charitable gift fund. Here's how it works: you create an account through a financial company with a $5,000 or $10,000 tax-deductible contribution.

Democrats taking over congress say they want to make more financial aid available for college students. That's great, but parents have to do their part, too.

Cha-ching . is that the sound of a cash register we hear?'Tis the season to upgrade your credit card into premium plastic aimed at big spenders. Each has its own menu of high-class rewards.