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The 20 Most Valuable Brands In The World

Every year, BrandZ and Millward Brown Optimor calculate and rank brands based on their global value. These are the 20 most valuable brands for 2013. (Think mobile.)

How to Get the Best Deals on Cyber Monday

On Cyber Monday, U.S. consumers are expected to empty their wallets of more than $1 billion, Merchants are offering some of their best deals, and it's time to take advantage. Here are a few strategies that should help you land the lowest prices.

Marijuana Legalization: 3 Legit Angles to Profit From Pot

When talking about the groundbreaking pot legalization propositions that passed this month, news anchors can't seem to get through a sentence without giggling. But this is a serious issue, and presents investors with a serious chance to profit from the change in America's drug laws.

Hurricane Sandy Leads Companies to Postpone Earnings Reports

A number of major U.S. companies postponed quarterly earnings reports Monday as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast and financial markets were closed: Among the biggies waiting until the rain stops: Pfizer, Thomson Reuters, NRG Energy, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Why Your Credit Card Needs an International Upgrade: The EMV Chip

When you're traveling abroad, the last thing you might be worried about is whether your credit card will speak the native language, but because U.S. cards lack a certain key bit of technology, many times, they won't. But in some cases, that will soon be changing.

Your Smartphone as Your Wallet: 3 Companies That Will Cash In

The smartphone revolution is well under way, and its latest advances could eventually let it replace your wallet. But the adoption of these new technologies can do more than reshape how you pay for purchases -- it can also pay off for your portfolio.

3 Reasons Why Credit Card Surcharges Are an Empty Threat

Long-suffering businesses have won a big concession from Visa and MasterCard: the right to add surcharges to credit card purchases. But despite the panicky rhetoric that followed the deal, there's reason to believe not many retailers will take advantage.

How Soon Will You Start Paying More to Use Plastic?

Until now, merchants weren't allowed to charge those buying with credit cards a higher price, although they could offer discounts for cash. But last week, an antitrust settlement opened the door for surcharges -- and could impact the way you shop.

5 Minutes Will Save You 66% on Your Next Rental Car

Renting a car is a lot like buying one: You know you're going to get taken advantage of, you just don't know how badly. But follow these three simple rules and you can cut two-thirds off the price of your next rental -- easily.

Merchants May Win the Right to Charge Credit Card Users More

Merchants have long sought the right to charge customers more for paying with a credit card, which would help them defray the cost of accepting plastic. That's currently banned by Visa and MasterCard, but deal in the works could change that.

Karl Marx Credit Cards Prove a Hit in Eastern Germany

Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, some eastern Germans are once again carrying images of Karl Marx: The face of the man who foretold the end of capitalism and the triumph of communism is now being emblazoned on a popular bank credit card.

Online Shoppers' Big Peeve: It's Such a Pain to Pay

What really aggravates people about shopping online? Believe it or not, it's that it isn't easy enough to pay. Nearly 3 out of 5 people surveyed cited the annoyance of having to enter (and re-enter) their personal data as a major nuisance of buying on the web.

Amazon Works to Perfect the Art of the Daily Deal

The problem with most daily deal sites is that the bargains you're offered aren't necessarily the ones you want. That's where Amazon thinks it can gain an advantage, by leveraging its signature product recommendation technology.

Visa 1Q Profit Rises 16% as Card Use Rises

Visa said Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 16 percent, as card use rose both in the U.S. and overseas. The San Francisco-based payments processor posted a notable 10 percent increase in U.S. credit card use. But debit card use rose just 6 percent. That's the slowest debit card growth rate in more than a year, and comes during the first three-month period that new rules were in place to limit the fees retailers pay to accept the cards.

Don't Spend This Settlement Check All in One Place

Sometimes it pays to wait; sometimes it doesn't. Just ask the roughly 10 million cardholders who were part of the Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust class action lawsuit settlement. After a decade of legal wrangling, the settlement funds are finally being disbursed -- but a suit this large can dilute even $336 million.

How a Debit Card Fee Cut Backfired on Merchants

Washington's efforts at financial reform keep having strange and unintended consequences. In response to a law that was meant to lower excessive debit card transaction fees on merchants, Visa and Mastercard found a way to raise the fees on a host of small businesses.

10 Companies That Owe Amazon a Big 'Thank You'

Amazon's holidays are off to a great start, but with its stock trading north of 100 times earnings, AMZN shares could be the one thing you don't want to buy from the online retailer. Instead, consider these companies that are riding on the coattails of the online shopping boom.

Beyond Card Fees: Banks Look To Sell Your Data

New and higher debit card fees may not be enough to satiate the big banks. Financial institutions looking for revenue are now eyeing another source: Selling your debit-card transaction data to marketers. So which is worth more to you: The deals such targeted advertising will bring, or your privacy?

5 Dates to Watch This Earnings Season

It's been awfully quiet on the earnings front in recent weeks, and there's a reason: This is the time of year when accountants are nailing down the financials for the fiscal quarters that ended in September. Later this week, the conference calls will begin trickling in, and then it will be a deluge of quarterly reports until early November.

How This Credit Card Can Stop Overspending

Americans are expected to accumulate $54 billion in credit card debt in 2011, according to a recent study. So imagine a card that you can program to control your spending -- one that actually shuts off if you blow past your monthly budget at your favorite shoe store, or sends you an alert when you eat out more than you planned.

Paying Off Our Plastic Is Killing the Economy

Here's the good news: American consumers are finally starting to reduce their reliance on credit and pay off their high-interest debt -- a positive development for their financial futures. The bad news: More money in people's pockets means less overall spending in the economy, which desperately needs the cash right now. How might the tension be resolved?

Why eBay Will Never Be Great Again

Remember when eBay was cool? You'll have to think hard, because those days are long gone. The online auction site used to carry cool, quirky merchandise, as well as serving as a source of last resort for otherwise impossible-to-find items. Nowadays, it's basically being held up by PayPal, which will soon face challenges of its own.

Don't Pay for Your Nose Job with Plastic

When it comes to the out-of-pocket cost of medical procedures, several financial services companies -- not to mention health care providers themselves -- are willing to offer lines of credit. But patient beware: Plunking down your credit card to pay for any major medical expense, cosmetic or otherwise, can leave your finances with some pretty ugly scars.