Linda Stern

Sports video cameras are getting cheaper and tinier just in time to stuff into holiday stockings. The new breed of "helmet cams" are about 1.5 inches wide and 3 to 6 inches long, weigh less than a pound and can strap onto snowboards, handlebars or anything else that moves with you.

It's that time of year when workers choose their health-insurance plans for 2006, and if you think "open season" refers to your wallet, you're not wrong.Employers are heaping bigger premiums, more copays and higher deductibles onto their employees to hold their own costs down.

When a company wants to jazz up its ability to innovate, why not turn to... jazz? As well as other fine arts? One New York nonprofit, Creativity Connection, thinks there are links between creativity in art and in the trenches of business management.

Good credit counseling is hard to find, and it's about to get even harder. The new bankruptcy law requires that consumers seek credit counseling before declaring bankruptcy, and that--on top of near-record debt levels--is raising demand.You don't have to be broke to see a counselor.

If it's time to buy pumpkins, it's time to sell stocks. With stocks and bonds both beaten down in recent weeks, the only bright side might be the tax loss you can take if you sell while you're down.

More than a half-million cars have been flooded by Katrina, Rita and hard rains in the West. Some will get resold, leaving new owners with wheels that can rust out from under them.If you're in the market for a used car, be suspicious of super-low prices and new carpeting.

All those new cell-phone deals look great, but... too bad you're saddled with your old plan for another 23 months. If it weren't for those ridiculously high early-termination fees--they average $170--almost half of all cell-phone users would switch, a consumer group said recently.

Mortgage brokers are answering their phones again, and that's good for borrowers. With refinancings down and new signs that the housing market has slowed, the lending industry is more desperate to close deals.

It's a little early for holiday shopping, but it's a great time for plotting your strategy. This year you're going to need one, because Web-based retailers are busy rolling out more features than ever before.

Even as U.S. Airways got approval to emerge from bankruptcy last week, Northwest and Delta joined United in the busted-carriers club. That may be bad news for their shareholders and workers, but not so much for travelers.

New web sites are springing up for business travelers who want to see all their options before booking a flight. Both expertflyer.com and itasoftware.com give travelers a level of pricing detail they just wouldn't get from the more general travel Web sites, such as Expedia or Orbitz. "We're for the road warriors, the business travelers and frequent fliers who have some status in their programs," says Chris Lopinto of ExpertFlyer.What really sets these two sites apart is their comprehensiveness:...

If you put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care, you might actually end up with a new sound and a promising invention, according to scientists at HP.

With business travel back to pre-9/11 levels, more companies are paying attention to their travel managers. The job has evolved from travel agent to a strategic policy position focused on the security and productivity of traveling workers, says Suzanne Fletcher, president of the National Business Travel Association and travel manager at Weyerhaeuser.

If a Salt Lake City nonprofit has its way, everyone in the world will be able to use DNA to find his or her forebears. The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation is building a huge database of family trees and DNA samples in hopes of demonstrating worldwide biological connections.

Some people live to travel, and some people travel... just to amass frequent-flyer miles. It's a small subculture of road warriors who think it makes sense to go to Singapore for the weekend to snag those double bonus deals, but they've definitely figured out all the angles.

Every week for the next 18 years, some 88,500 baby boomers will turn 59-1/2 and become eligible to pull money out of their retirement accounts without penalty.

You might need more than a lawyer and handholding buddies when divorce threatens. The new go-to guy is a financial expert who can find hidden bank accounts and split them fairly.

You've got four solid months to position yourself for the lowest possible tax bill. Why not use the fall to get ready? That tax preparer who was too busy to chat in April is available for a consult now. "You'll get them at their best, rather than worst," says Mark Luscombe of CCH Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill., tax-research firm.

Long-term rates have been falling, despite the Fed's having pushed up short-term rates aggressively in the past year. That creates what's called a "flat yield curve"--where long- and short-term interest rates are within spitting distance of each other.

It might be time to rethink what you have in your wallet. Big credit-card issuers keep sweetening their offers to keep consumers charging. If you plan to switch, just remember to cancel your old cards--too much plastic can clutter your credit report.

Here's one way to strike it rich: climb into a time machine, head back to 2004 and buy energy stocks. With oil and natural gas at record levels, these companies already have climbed 50 percent in a year.

A new survey from Hewitt Associates, the Lincolnshire, Ill., benefits-consulting company, shows that almost half of all job changers are cashing out their 401(k)s.

It's a good time to shop for a 529 state-sponsored college-savings plan. They've been dropping fees, adding investment choices and, perhaps most helpfully, clearing up all the small print in their offering documents.

Serving in Iraq was a challenge for one Colorado Marine, but fighting the credit-report wars when he returned was another. Dustin Khaffaji came home to Ft.

Maybe five years is long enough to heal old wounds. Stocks of Internet companies are up 24 percent in three months, as investment pros have started plugging--and buying--again.

You know you want a motorcycle on a beautiful summer day. But you can't really ride easy if you're spending too much money to insure it.Motorcycle enthusiasts can spend hundreds of extra dollars to cover bikes that are frequently stolen or crashed, says Progressive Group, which conducted a survey.

This year, your summer vacation may make you nostalgic... for last year. Ah, good old 2004, when airlines were desperate and gasoline was $1.98 a gallon. In 2005, Americans are traveling in record numbers, and the hotels and airlines are celebrating with price increases topping 4 percent. "Every sector of the travel industry will be up, up, up," says Suzanne Cook of the Travel Industry Association of America.

If you've been sick recently, you know that dealing with all the doctors' bills and insurance forms can quickly give you a relapse. Now financial-software maker Intuit has released a program to help sort it all out.Quicken Medical Expense Manager ($49.95; quicken medical.com, for Windows computers) organizes health records, prescriptions and charges.

Here's a Wall Street riddle: what's highly technical, dry (some would say boring), and very hot this summer? If you follow the money, you already know the answer: exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.

The Internal Revenue Service has opened the door for some parents to write off their child's private-school tuition as a medical expense. In a recent ruling, it said that one family's dyslexic children required special education that could be deemed medical care. Though the ruling applied only to one specific family, Bob Scharin, editor of RIA's Practical Tax Strategies, advises parents who think they might qualify to take these steps.