There’s a good chance you already know who Kimberly Palmer is, and if not, I would strongly recommend you get to know her! I have been following her work for a couple years now and trust me, she’s going to be the next big thing in the personal finance world (watch out Suze Orman!).

Kimberly Palmer is the senior editor and personal finance columnist for US News & World Report, writes the magazine column and daily blog, Alpha Consumer. She has appeared on NBC’s Today show, CNBC, CNN, and local television and radio shows across the country. She has also written for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Asahi Shimbun/International Herald Tribune in Tokyo as a Henry Luce scholar.

She recently wrote a fascinating new book, Generation Earn, which has received rave reviews and is definitely a must-read. But rather than try and describe the book myself, I thought it would be best to have her tell us a bit about it in her own words…

Why did you write Generation Earn?

I felt like I had to stand up for my generation! Our reputation has been dragged through the mud as if we are terrible with money and totally defined by debt. While it’s true that people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s carry more debt than ever before, we also care about so much more than just debt – we want to get ahead, be smart with our investments, be frugal in innovative ways, and also give back. So I wrote the book to help people do that.

What are the biggest credit card mistakes that young people make?

The biggest mistake, ironically, is that too many young people avoid credit altogether. You’d think that would be a good thing, but it can actually hurt us. If we’ve never had any experience with credit or accounts in our own name, then it can be impossible to take out a mortgage or even an auto loan, because lenders see us as utterly inexperienced. That’s why the smartest way to manage credit cards is to use them, but use them responsibility, by paying them off each month.

You say that credit cards have earned a bad rap that they don’t deserve. What do you like about them?

I like that they can save us during emergencies or really tight times and actually help us get ahead. For example, I interviewed one woman in the book who graduated from college and essentially had no income to pay for an apartment or outfits for her first job. So she used a credit card to get her through those first couple months, before her paychecks started. While it sounds like a bad idea to use credit cards for such things, it was what enabled her to start her job and look presentable right away – and of course, she paid off those cards almost immediately. The bottom line is that if used responsibility, credit cards can be very valuable tools!

What does it mean to use credit cards smartly?

Paying off the balance in full, taking advantage of rewards if you carry no balance, and shopping around for the best card for you. There’s no “best” card for everybody because cards and people’s needs are so individualized – which is why sites like yours are so helpful!

How do you use credit cards and I’m dying to know, which one(s) do you personally use?

I use them as described above – I use credit cards for pretty much every purchase I make, even coffee, and then pay them off in full each month. That means I get some pretty sweet rewards. My rewards paid for my fancy new coffee maker and toaster, as well as a fantastic $200 dinner with my husband recently. I use a Wells Fargo Visa Platinum card.

What would you say is the biggest mistake that the credit card industry is making today?

I don’t like the recent regulation change, going into effect in October, that requires card companies to consider individual income and not household income when considering card applications. While I understand the reasoning behind it – card companies shouldn’t approve cards for people who can’t afford them –I think it is insulting to stay-at-home moms and dads who deserve access to their own credit cards. It’s insulting to have to just be an authorized user on your working spouse’s card.

In Generation Earn you discuss the importance of philanthropy, which too often goes by the wayside for many. If you had 30 seconds to convince someone why it’s so important, what would you say to them?

It will make you happier! Plenty of studies show that one of the quickest ways to feel better about your own life is to help someone else. Even if you don’t have much money, you can get together with friends to make a modest donation together or contribute your time (or blood!).

With a list price of only $14.99 (and even cheaper online) I think your book’s advice will pay for itself many times over, especially given your creative advice about all the ways to earn more in the Job Juggling chapter. Who would you say would benefit the most from buying this book today?

Thank you! The biggest benefit I think is that it can immediately help you start feeling better about your financial situation, whether it’s because it will show you how to spend smarter, invest better, or earn more.

Head over to GenerationEarn.com to learn more and where you can buy it.

Written April 2011

October 29th 2009…. The Dow has surged nearly 200 points today after the 3rd quarter GDP numbers were better than expected.

For big business, things seem to be on the up and up. Goldman Sachs (known as “Golden Sacks” in the investment circles) recently had an all-time record quarter in July. The company’s third quarter earnings would have even broke that record if it weren’t for the high executive compensation, which of course diminishes the net profits. All in all, it seems to be a pretty great year for corporate America, especially the finance sector.

Are You Better Off Than Before?
But how about you and me? Are we doing any better? Let’s see… unemployment keeps shooting up; it’s now just shy of 10% nationwide. Of course the true number of unemployed is actually higher that that, because it doesn’t count people who were self-employed (they don’t qualify for unemployment benefits) nor does it count those underemployed.

Let’s Say It How It Is…
The truth of the matter is that yes, the economy is improving, but it’s corporate America whom is benefiting the most. As for your average middle-class American, things aren’t getting better. And no, don’t even give me that “trickle down” theory of giving money to the top and big business so it trickles down to the little guy. We already tried that for eight years and look where it got us.

As far as credit cards go, being that the Fed hasn’t raised interest rates during this recession and the banks are getting the money at 0%, why are they insisting it’s necessary to raise our card’s interest rates lately by such drastic amounts? They’re being lent money for nothing by the fed, PLUS getting astronomically big bailouts… it just doesn’t make sense to me.

When the talking heads spout about personal finance, they often portray Americans as the only ones that have problems with spending and debt. Make no mistake, everyone one is guilty to one degree or another of somethings makes financial decisions that may not be the smartest. But whether it’s problems we bring on ourselves, our problems outside of our control like a layoff, we’re not the only ones with debt issues right now.

The People’s Bank of China recently issued its second quarterly report on “payment system perspective.” (Here’s the link to it, but unless you can read Mandarin Chinese, it won’t be of any use to you- http://www.pbc.gov.cn/detail.asp?col=100&id=3347). And lo and behold, what does it tell us? That payments 6 months or more past due is up a staggering 131% from the same time last year!

How many credit cards are in China? There are over 163,000,000. The number of total cards in the country has been growing at astronomically high double digit rates, which we previously highlighted in post from March about China’s card usage.

So do we have some credit problems of our own? As Sarah Palin would say, “You betchya!” But, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too hard, because we’re not the only ones in deep doo-doo. And while the Chinese are profiting left and right off of American consumers selling us [cough] crap [clears throat] I mean, consumer durables, we have quite a few inventions the good ol’ USA is using to profit off of their growth… two of them being the payment processing networks Visa and MasterCard! (And because they only process payments and don’t lend money, they’re not the ones taking the hit.)

Written Sept. 2009