Money and Computing

FTC and the Clean Credit Report Repair Court Order

A credit repair operation has agreed to stop making false claims and stop charging up-front fees under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlement is part of an ongoing crackdown on scams that target financially strapped consumers, in this case taking hundreds of dollars in fees to purportedly remove negative information from consumers’ credit reports even if the information is accurate and timely. The FTC filed the action in “Operation Clean Sweep” in October 2008.

Problems with State-Local Final Pay Plans; Options for Reform

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has published another Brief of interest by Peter A. Diamond, Alicia H. Munnell, Gregory Leiserson, and Jean-Pierre Aubry, August 2010

Introduction

As widely publicized, the financial crisis dramatically worsened the funded status of state and local pension plans. In response, public sector sponsors are making a number of changes. Most of these changes involve increasing employer and employee contributions and cutting benefits for new employees primarily by increasing the age for full benefits. A couple of states have cut cost-of-living adjustments for current retirees, but they are in the process of being sued. One item not on anyone’s agenda is reconsidering the basic design of public-sector defined benefit plans.

Older Adults and Social Media

by Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist, Pew Internet & American Life Project

Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled -- from 22% to 42% over the past year.

While social media use has grown dramatically across all age groups, older users have been especially enthusiastic over the past year about embracing new networking tools. Although email continues to be the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, many users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications — sharing links, photos, videos, news and status updates with a growing network of contacts.

Half (47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one-in-four (26%) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites.

Time to Reconsider Texting? Using Daily Text-Message Reminders to Improve Adherence With Oral Contraceptives

We just spotted one of those television ads to discourage texting ... in this case, when driving a car. It was a sobering ad as the narration was performed by the parent of a young woman who did not surive the outcome of her multiple actions. Now a respected journal points is currently running an article that presents an example of a text reminder's lack of effectiveness. We don't subscribe to the Obstetrics & Gynecology Journal, but the abstract from this randomized controlled trial succinctly states results and conclusions: