Russ Juskalian, 30, is a journalist based in Munich who has reported from Southeast Asia, above the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland and from the Himalayan foothills in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

As you’d expect, he writes articles related to his travels. But, unlike most journalists, he also sells his photos, giving him a second career as a photographer.

If that weren’t enough, in his spare time, he teaches classes in science writing, international freelancing and travel writing through an online program offered by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

“My schedule varies dramatically from week to week, month to month,” he says. “Because I have so many competing things going on — writing, editing images, pitching, preparing for upcoming classes, grading student work — I tend to compartmentalize my time, so that I have a series of tasks that I must get done before moving on to the next ones.”

So-called “slashers,” like reporter/photographer/teacher Juskalian, are part of an emerging trend known as the “portfolio career.” And if you’re the right personality type, it can be an incredibly rewarding — and profitable — career move.

How portfolio careers became so big
Marci Alboher, author of “One Person/Multiple Careers,” defines “slashers” as individuals who’ve created a “portfolio career” involving multiple identities. Their income comes from part-time employment, temporary work, freelance assignments or a personal business — or they work a full-time job, while pursuing other lucrative interests.

Barrie Hopson, co-author of “10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career,” says that this  type of career offers a much more fulfilling work-life blend, not to mention a safety net of several jobs—so if you lose one or choose to quit a job, you’ll still have other sources of income.

During the heart of the recession, people took on portfolio careers out of necessity. So now that the job market is improving, why is the slasher lifestyle becoming even more common.

“Increasingly, people are finding that they don’t want to do the same thing day in and day out,” Hopson says. “The traditional, single-track career pattern of the last century (think ladder) is now more difficult to find, and if you do pursue that, you’ll almost certainly have to move between companies.”

That said, portfolio careers aren’t for everyone.

To determine if a portfolio career is right for you, consult your high school extracurricular schedule, suggests Erin Albert, author of “Plan C: The Full-Time Employee and Part-Time Entrepreneur.” Did you dabble in one or more activities, such as theater, music, art or sports?  “If you craved variety, then you’ll most likely crave variety now,” Albert says.

Another question to consider: If you won the lottery tomorrow, and money was no object, what would you do with your life? “If your brain excitedly goes in 50 different directions in answer to that question, chances are that you have portfolio career potential,” Albert says.

If you think that you might be made of the right stuff, consider these questions before jumping into a portfolio career:

* Do you multitask and manage your time well?

* Do you crave flexibility and creativity?

* Are you organized?

* Are you open to new opportunities?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, this path could be the one for you.

Only one of the 46 portfolio careerists that Hopson studied have returned to a single-track career in the past two years. According to Hopson, all of the participants claimed that they were happier as slashers, which is no wonder, since most of them earned more within two years of their portfolio career than they ever did as a full-time employee.

What to do before launching a portfolio career 
Foresee and handle any conflicts of interest. This applies to conflicts both with a specific day job and at the career level. For instance, if you stay at your full-time job, but you need more time to dedicate to other interests, have an honest conversation with your employer to come up with the best solution. Additionally, make sure that your other pursuits won’t negatively impact that career overall.

Only one of the 46 portfolio careerists that Hopson studied have returned to a single-track.

“The good and bad news here is that you have the power to create whatever custom-designed career you want,” Albert says. “But it does take work and an honest appraisal of what you really want.” 

Have at least one consistent line of work. Alboher notes that it’s always smart to have one or two steady jobs, so that you have a base level of income. Alboher adds that many portfolio careerists take the anchor-orbiter approach, meaning one job requires a physical presence at a certain location during a certain time (i.e. office job), while the other jobs (i.e. freelance work) “orbit” around it.

Start a rainy day fund. Put six months to two years of savings in your bank account to support your cost of living … just in case. For full-time freelancers, the recommendation is at least a year’s worth of savings. (Read more on the seven reasons why you need an emergency fund.) If you’d like to create your own business, Albert suggests launching it while still working your day job. Whether you decide to quit or not, saving is an absolute must—especially if you have a family. Albert explains that a person with three kids, a mortgage and a lot of bills has different (and greater) risks to consider than a recent college graduate.

Portfolio careers also have many benefits
“Anyone who has ever been pink-slipped, fired or laid off understands the importance of moving multiple careers forward and not putting all career eggs in one basket (figuratively speaking),” Albert says. “By juggling multiple careers, one can have flexibility and adaptability, which are two key skills every employee in this post-economic downturn needs to have to succeed in the future.”

Plus, if you do choose to return to a traditional work environment, your extensive repertoire and transferable skills from your portfolio career might give you a leg up against other applicants.

Juskalian definitely seconds the flexibility and adaptability comments, not only because his income is irregular, but because his work flow is, too. Depending on what’s going on in his personal life, his schedule can swing between periods centered around friends and family to periods of almost no personal time and all traveling, writing, editing and teaching.

“I find my lifestyle very fulfilling,” he says. “But there’s no doubt that it takes a certain mentality — and a lot of energy — to juggle my career.”

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If you spend time worrying that you'll end up on the street in your old age with your belongings stuffed into plastic bags in a shopping cart, you have good company.

A new survey shows that almost half of American women fear they will become "bag ladies" some day, and the anxiety ripples across all income groups.

Even among women with household earnings above $200,000, 27 percent harbor the bag-lady fear, according to a new online survey issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America.

While Allianz is promoting the survey to encourage women to seek more financial-planning advice, the underlying concern is valid, according to a labor economist who studies aging and income issues.

Because women typically earn less and have more sporadic work histories, their pensions and benefits are less sturdy, said Barbara Butrica, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute’s Income and Benefits Policy Center. “They are starting retirement at a disadvantage,” she said.

Women also tend to live longer than men. “So she’ll have to make that income last a lot longer time,” Butrica said.

Among the over-65 set, non-married women have the highest poverty rates. While only 4 percent of married women over 65 fell below the poverty line in 2010, that number rose to 14 percent for widows over 65 and 18 percent for divorced women over 65, Butrica said.

For men over 65 living in poverty, 4 percent were married; 11 percent were widowers and 12 percent were divorced. The gender differences are even more striking, Butrica said, when you consider that in 2010, only 29.5 percent of men age 65 or older were not married, compared with 56.3 percent of women. Those numbers come from the Social Security Administration's 2012 report on “Income of the Population 55 or Older, 2010.”

But should even women with very good jobs fret about being homeless one day?

“It’s highly unlikely. But it could happen,” Butrica said, citing the likelihood that a catastrophic illness is more likely to strike as you get older. “The fact that these women are thinking about it is a good thing.”

And indeed more women are planning for retirement, especially since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, according to the Allianz survey.

More than 90 percent of the women who responded to the survey said women need to be more involved in financial planning. The strongest agreement, 96 percent, came from divorced women.

Overall, 57 percent of the respondents said they both "have more earning power than ever before" and 60 percent said they are the primary breadwinner in their household

The Women, Money & Power Study was conducted by Larson Research + Strategy in December 2012 as an opt-in, online survey with 2,213 women, ages 25 through 75, with an annual household income of at least $30,000. The numbers are representative of the U.S. female population based on age and geographic distribution and are weighted to reflect the most recent and accurate available U.S. Census proportions.

For some shoppers, the coupon craze appears to have given way to coupon complaints.

A Life Inc. post this week about the sharp decline in coupon use got hundreds of readers talking about why they’ve grown disillusioned with the good, old-fashioned coupon. Coupon redemptions fell about 14.3 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year, according to industry consulting firm Inmar.

It’s clear that many people are still drawn to coupons: About 42 percent of the nearly 29,000 readers who took our survey said they use coupons often.

“On top of only buying things on sale and in store promotions, I save 30% or more. I LOVE coupons,” one reader wrote.

But many readers complained they are using coupons less because the discounts just aren’t as useful.

One common gripe: Coupons seem to be offering a lower discount but they often require the user to buy several containers of same item. For many, that’s a deal breaker.

“I've been using coupons for 35 years. Lately I have used almost zero. Mainly because I am required to buy 3, or 5, or more of an item,” one reader wrote.

Others complained that coupons have become too restrictive with their expiration dates, making them hard to use. And many readers said they can get better deals by shopping around or choosing in-store brands.

“I wanted to rejoin the coupon cutting crowd and have. But very rarely do I use them. When I compare the store brand to the popular name brand I have a coupon for it STILL does not make economical sense to buy the name brand. And I do NOT want three boxes of cereal,” another reader wrote.

Another common gripe: There aren’t enough coupons for fresh and healthy food items.

“I used to use them, when they covered more items. Now they primarily offer discounts on processed food and name brands I don't buy,” one reader wrote.

That doughnut you ate for breakfast or cigarette you smoked after lunch may be costing you more than you thought.

As insurance costs rise, workers are finding their employers are trading in the carrot for a stick and hiking premiums upward of $1,000 annually if they don’t quit smoking or undergo urine or blood tests to assess their health. About 83 percent of U.S. companies offer incentives to employees who take part in wellness programs, and about 45 percent of those are tying the cost to the employee’s insurance premium or health savings plan, according to a new Aon Hewitt survey.

CVS Caremark drug store recently raised hackles when it told employees that its company health insurance would add a $50 monthly surcharge for workers who did not participate in its wellness program, which requires a confidential weigh-in and blood test. Many other companies are doing the same thing, but it’s almost always framed as an incentive rather than a penalty.

CVS is not alone with the surcharges.

At the not-for-profit MaineHealth group, smokers on the company insurance plan now face an annual $1,200 “tobacco fee” if a urine test shows recent tobacco use.

Until 2011, MaineHealth had used only incentives to encourage wellness among its employees.“The combination of carrot and stick seems to work better,” said Laurie Jones Mitchell, the director of Health & Productivity for MaineHealth. “Some people call it a ‘frozen carrot.’”

The tobacco fee is only one element of MaineHealth’s WebMD wellness program, which also offers cash incentives for employees who reach certain health standards. About 7 percent of MaineHealth’s 10,000 employees are currently paying the tobacco fee, Mitchell said. There has also been a big uptick in the numbers of people using the company’s free tobacco cessation programs and free tobacco medications, she said.

The size and type of the incentives (or consequences) of company wellness plans vary widely. Some only offer a $25 cash bonus for taking part, whereas others will increase your health care premiums more than $1,000 if you don't join a wellness program that requires an annual weigh-in and tests to determine blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and nicotine levels. Those results are required to remain private with the employee's doctor or the wellness plan, but can impact how much your insurance costs.

Current law allows employers to tie the amount of the incentive up to 20 percent of the individual’s health care premium. In 2014, that percentage is expected to rise to 30 percent, and then up to 50 percent for smokers.

“Incentives are not necessarily a new thing,” said Stephanie Pronk, the Health Transformation leader for Health & Benefits at Aon Hewitt. But they are "absolutely" increasing, she said, based on Aon's survey of nearly 800 large and mid-size U.S. employers.

Aon has been studying these types of programs for about six years and found they were on the rise before the recent health care reform changes were approved. “We were seeing an overall uptick long before that came into play,” Pronk said.

And while the numbers are increasing, many employers are remaining on the sidelines, said Howard Bye-Torre, an attorney at Stoel Rives LLP in Seattle, who advises companies dealing with wellness plans.

“Some employers don’t really want to get into the issue of their employees’ health. They view it as very personal,” Bye-Torre said. Others, he said, are wary of the complicated federal regulations.

Among the complications is a possible conflict between the American Disabilities Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. While HIPAA specifically allows companies to offer financial incentives to employees who take part in wellness programs, the ADA states that any questions about an employee's health must be voluntary (and not coerced with an incentive of anything more valuable than a T-shirt or hat.)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which administers the ADA, has declined to clarify its stance on the apparent conflict, leaving some companies to wonder if there is a legal risk, Bye-Torre said. “Please give us guidance on these,” Bye-Torre said he and other attorneys have asked of the EEOC.

They may go to great lengths to avoid work, but your slacker co-workers actually love their jobs. A new study comparing job performance and satisfaction found that the least-productive workers are also the most engaged in nearly half of workplaces.

At 42 percent of more than 200 companies studied, leadership training and research firm Leadership IQ found that the people who spend the day perusing Pinterest or updating their fantasy football rosters are more engaged than middle-of-the-road and even star workers.

“We’re putting numbers to things we all kind of intuitively know,” said Leadership IQ CEO Mark Murphy. 

Leadership IQ, which drew on its research database to survey 207 companies, also carried out a more detailed study of one representative example, a 1,000-person tech service provider on which the consulting firm had detailed data about employee engagement and performance. As the Wall Street Journal noted, these findings fly in the face of conventional wisdom that those who contribute more to their employer's success are the most engaged with their jobs.

In this study, low performers were more likely to say they give 100 percent at work, that their company is a great place to work and that everyone there does an equally good job. So, in addition to not being very good at the work itself, these workers also think they’re much better at their jobs than they actually are.

"You can think you’re giving 100 percent effort, but if you don’t know exactly what 100 percent looks like and how that translates into performance... that’s where this asymmetry comes from," Murphy said.

A major reason your slacker co-workers like their jobs so much is because you’re doing their work for them. The study found that high performers were least likely to say their company held people accountable for their work, while the lowest performers were the most likely to say they received praise for the work they do.

Managers who dole out “attaboys” and merit raises across the board bear a lot of the blame for this, Murphy said. "It’s sort of the everybody-gets-a-trophy phenomenon," he said. "What they don’t realize is that by not differentiating the high performers, you really are irritating the high performers... who are keeping you in business.”

As if giving sub-par performers a pat on the back wasn’t bad enough, the people who do pull their weight often get stuck cleaning up after their less-diligent colleagues. In another study, Leadership IQ found that 93 percent of employees said working with a poor performer had a negative impact on their own productivity.

Murphy said managers may be afraid of confronting people who turn in shoddy work, especially if they know their harder-working colleagues will pick up the slack.

“When there isn’t sufficient accountability... and standards of performance, it’s actually not that bad a job to be a low performer," he said. "We see a lot of organizations where managers will even promote a low performer just to get them out of their department."

It's discouraging, but before you throw in the towel and spend the rest of the day looking at pictures of cats online, there are a couple of things good employees can do if they're stuck in a workplace where no poor deed goes unrewarded.

For one thing, talk to your boss, Murphy said. The idea isn’t to call out the co-worker who spends all day hanging around the coffee machine, but to ask the company to implement better ways to measure performance — which will separate the go-getters from the also-rans.

If that fails, dust off your resume. Companies where hard work is rewarded realize, “There are a lot of frustrated high performers out there and they’re really looking for organizations who recognize what they bring,” Murphy said.

Five years ago, Mike Merrill decided to take stock of his life by letting others actually buy stock in his life.

“I am a publicly traded person. So I sell shares of myself, and then allow my shareholders to guide me in my life decisions,” Merrill told TODAY.

He started a company that allows the public to make his major life decisions, including who to date, his exercise program and whether to get a vasectomy. (A majority of shareholders voted no on the delicate surgery.)

The company, KmikeyM, comes from his full name, Kenneth Michael Merrill.

He has a logo, a theme song and 320 shareholders who can buy and trade shares in him on a private market he set up online.

Currently he’s going for about $12.80 per share, down from his all-time high of $20 in June.

Claire Evans, one of Merrill’s friends, is a stockholder. "Every major thing that he goes through, every fork in the road, I am invested in and participate in," she said.

What investors are really buying is his future value, the right to weigh in on professional projects and the personal decisions that impact them.

“Anything that I would normally ask my friends about, I've decided those are the things that I'm going ask my shareholders about," Merrill said. They let him wear Brooks Brothers. They told him to switch parties and register as a Republican. And they are letting him date his current girlfriend – but only after he wrote a report on the first date and submitted it to shareholders as an action item.

“So we would go on a date, he would write a report about it and that would go out to shareholders,” Marijke Dixon confirmed. She is now a shareholder, too. They’ve been together six months and their relationship contract is up for renewal soon.

Merrill told his story to The Atlantic magazine, which said he was putting the “I” in IPO.

Asked on TODAY if it’s all for real, Merrill said yes. “It’s all legitimate. “I've been doing it for five years.”

And even if the shareholders vote for something nutty, Merrill says he’s game, and will not reject their wishes. “If I did do that, I imagine my stock would plummet."

Domino’s Pizza, once known for its “30 minutes or less” delivery, is slowing things down.

The company this week launched a new advertising campaign touting its Homemade Pan Pizza, which “takes a bit longer to make” and features “fresh, never-frozen dough.”

“Domino's used to be all about speed,” says franchisee Robert Gavitt of Dallas in the new 30-second spot. "Not anymore." 

That’s saying a lot from a company that has held a World’s Fastest Pizza Maker competition since 1983.

Domino’s Pizza spokesperson Chris Brandon said the Handmade Pan Pizza, which was introduced last fall, is the company’s biggest new product since 2010. A two–topping pan pizza is available for $7.99. “When it comes to the pan pizza, it’s a little slower,” he said, adding that it takes “a little more time to make sure it’s done correctly.”

The ad was created by Domino's agency CP&B.  

Philip Schlitz, director of business development and client strategy at TBA Global, said that anything Domino’s Pizza can do to differentiate itself in a saturated market is a good move.

“Ultimately, from a branding perspective, I applaud them,” he said.

The risk, Schlitz said, is that by focusing on fresh ingredients and handmade quality, Domino’s could alienate its existing customers who want cheap pizza delivered fast.

Domino's ended its "30 minutes or less" delivery promise in 1993 after a series of lawsuits against the company involving its delivery drivers.

“A lot of people still associate us with 30-minute delivery,” Brandon said. “But that guarantee has been gone for a very long time.”

It’s a serious crime that’s getting worse. Identity thieves are stealing people’s lives for their personal gain. Victims can suffer more than a hit to their wallet. They can have their credit score plunge with all sorts of devastating consequences.

During a TODAY Money web chat on Wednesday, Adam Levin, CEO and co-founder of Identity Theft 911 answered a variety of questions on this subject. We started with why things keep getting worse.

Adam Levin: ID theft is increasing because people over-share information on social networking sites, don’t encrypt their computers and smartphones, provide information to people they don’t know, are on databases that have been improperly accessed because government or corporate databases are not properly secured or employees click on the wrong attachment sent in a phishing email and release malware into their computers which permits unauthorized access to a hacker.

TODAY: Clearly, there’s nothing that can guarantee that someone won’t be the victim of identity theft, but there are things we can all do to improve the odds. Can you share a few tips with us?

Adam Levin: It is not preventable. There is simply too much information out there through consumer over-sharing, human error, breaches at all levels of government and business security lapses. So you need to look at the issue in three ways: 

1. Minimize your risk of exposure: Don't carry Social Security cards, don't carry your entire inventory of credit and debit cards, don't give information to people who call you - always return their call to the official number on the back of a credit or debit card, secure your computer and smartphone with the most advanced security software, shred everything in sight, never click on links that look unfamiliar, never click on pictures, never respond to charities that you don't check out

2. Engage in a culture of monitoring: Go to annualcreditreport.com, go to trusted sites where you can monitor your credit or scores free, check your bank and credit accounts daily, enroll in programs where your bank, credit union or credit card company alerts you to transactions in your accounts, enroll in credit and fraud monitoring programs if you like the price, and consider a credit freeze

3. Have a damage control program: Check with your insurance company, bank, credit union or employer if they have a program to help you through the problem. It might be free or available at minimal cost. Ask if you are enrolled, what is the cost and how you can get in.

Read the rest of the Q & A below:

By Kara Reinhardt, Cheapism.com

A sound bar (shown here with a subwoofer) is a popular alternative to a full set of speakers.

Can’t make it to the Georgia Dome next weekend for the Final Four? A home theater may not replicate the experience of being in the arena, but it sure beats streaming the games on your work computer with earbuds (not that you’ve been doing that). Accumulating a full range of surround-sound speakers can easily cost more than tournament tickets and airfare to Atlanta. Even with a cheaper audio package, though, you’ll notice a marked improvement over your TV’s built-in speakers.

After comparing features and analyzing online reviews of home-theater systems, Cheapism.com has highlighted these top picks under $400.

• The Boston Acoustics TVee 26 (starting at $300) contains two speakers in a long, slim sound bar, an economical alternative to full surround sound. It comes from a brand dedicated to speakers and features a separate, wireless subwoofer. Reviewers note the clarity and strength of the sound and admire the system’s simplicity and value. (Where to buy)
• The Zvox Z-Base 220 (starting at $200) packs three speakers and a subwoofer into a single wooden case, a design that yields better sound quality than plastic housing, according to one expert. The bass comes in for particular praise, as do features that make dialogue stand out and dampen the volume of commercials. (Where to buy)
• The Panasonic SC-BTT195 (starting at $358) is what most consumers probably picture when they think of a home theater: a 5.1 speaker configuration, with five speakers and one subwoofer, plus a Blu-ray player. This type of complete package is becoming less common, as consumers opt for inexpensive audio-only packages (like the others on this list) and prefer to choose their own Blu-ray players. Reviewers say the included player, a 3-D model, provides excellent playback, and buyers appreciate the convenience of this “home theater in a box.” (Where to buy)
• The Panasonic SC-HTB350 (starting at $198) is a classic 2.1 system with two speakers and a subwoofer, as well as a control unit. Experts commend the system’s flexibility: The speakers can be combined into a single sound-bar-like unit, or placed separately on either side of the TV. The subwoofer is wireless, so you can put it anywhere in the room without a cord to get in the way. Bluetooth support lets an MP3 player or smartphone feed music through the speakers wirelessly, where other systems rely on a 3.5mm jack or USB input. (Where to buy)

Dolby offers a helpful guide to speaker positioning, whether you have a 2.1, 5.1, or pricier 7.1 configuration. With a sound bar, setup is less complicated and there aren’t so many wires to wrangle. The unit simply sits directly above or below the TV. All-in-one systems such as the Zvox Z-Base 220 use technology intended to mimic a 5.1 surround-sound setup. Still, some reviewers emphasize that there’s no substitute for physical speakers. True surround-sound systems like the Panasonic SC-BTT195, with two front speakers, a center channel, and two rear speakers, promise a more immersive experience.

More from Cheapism:

• Cheap home theater buying guide
• Best mobile coupon apps
• Best cheap travel sites
• Cheap LCD TV buying guide

Meet Nick D’Aloisio, a regular 17-year-old and possibly the world’s youngest tech multimillionaire after his smartphone app was sold to Yahoo for an estimated $30 million.

The British teen, who started designing apps at the age of 12, came up with the idea for Summly while doing school work.

“I was revising for history exams and using Google and search engines. And I realized there was a gap in the market,” he said.

D’Aloisio created a technology that summarized news stories into 400 characters. He launched Summly and soon after Apple featured it as a new and noteworthy app.

“When I was 15, I released a demo of the app,” D’Aloisio told TODAY. “And the Hong Kong billionaire, Li Ka-Shing, his kind of investment fund, reached out to me. We had a phone call where they didn’t know my age. At the end of the call, they were like, ‘When should we meet? We’ll fly to London.’ I was kinda like: ‘Before school or after school.’ "

Asked if the money will change him, D’Aloisio said no.

“My motivation was never about the money, it was about the technology and the product. So because of that, I don’t think going forward it will feel that different,” he said.

And no splurges are on the horizon. “Well, I can’t touch the money. It’s like in a trust fund with my parents. So I’ll be managing it with them,” D’Aloisio said.

The Yahoo acquisition was pegged at $30 million by All Things D, which cited unnamed sources who said the company paid 90 percent in cash and 10 percent in stock. The British teen will reportedly go to work for Yahoo for 18 months as part of the deal.

“I’m really excited that we’ve sold it because Yahoo’s a really great company to be joining right now, I think with Marissa Mayer there as their CEO,” he said.” As a technologist, it’s great time to be joining the company because they’re focusing on mobile and applications and that’s exactly what Summly was.”

Since the acquisition, Summly is no longer available as a free app, but will be incorporated into several Yahoo offerings as it repositions its focus on mobile.

“I think the plan is to take our technology, this summarization algorithm and integrate it into as many different parts of Yahoo as possible,” D’Aloisio said.

With one mega-deal under his belt, D’Aloisio said he has a few role models to emulate.“Mark Zuckerberg’s obviously very inspirational because he’s a young CEO of kinda a big company and he started when he was 19. I think Steve Jobs is also really inspirational for me because he was very persistent in doing what he wanted to do and that’s why Apple became what it is,” D’Aloisio said.

Most big chain restaurants now put nutrition information – calories, fat and sodium – on their menus and websites. But just how accurate are these numbers? Does the meal you’re served match the nutritional profile promised?

Consumer Reports decided to find out. For its May issue, the magazine’s secret shoppers went to a dozen well-known restaurants and fast-food chains, from Applebee’s to Wendy’s, and ordered 17 different items. They tested the same item from three restaurants in each chain.

The good news: In most cases, the published information was accurate.

“We found that you can usually trust the figures you see,” said editor Leslie Ware. “On average, most of them were telling the truth.”

Only two of the 17 dishes Consumer Reports analyzed in the lab had a fat or calorie count that was higher than promised at all three locations.

Olive Garden’s Lasagna Primavera with Grilled Chicken was supposed to have 420 calories and 15 grams of fat. The samples the magazine tested had 508 to 585 calories and 25 to 32 grams of fat. That’s more than the 20 percent variance that’s generally considered acceptable with nutrition information.

The company told TODAY it takes great care to provide accurate nutrition information. In an email, Olive Garden explained that an error had been made in the initial testing of the entree when it was introduced last October.

“As soon as we caught this error, we retested the dish… and updated the nutritional information on our website with the new data in late December,” the email said. “Unfortunately, though, the information was not updated everywhere and one page on our website still contained the old nutritional data. We have since corrected this, too.”  

Olive Garden told TODAY that Consumer Reports never contacted them to confirm the numbers and did not give them an opportunity to respond.

“If they had, we would have been able to provide them with accurate data,” they said.

Consumer Reports' tests also showed the Chicken on the Barbie at Outback Steakhouse had more fat than advertised. The website claim was 7 grams of fat. The magazine’s analysis showed 10 to 13 grams.

"Nutritional information on our website has been verified by a recognized independent laboratory,” said Outback spokesperson Cathie Koch in an email to TODAY. “Our food is made from scratch daily using fresh ingredients. The variance in the report may be due to a larger container of sauce used for Take-Away."

This is not an exact science
Obviously, the calorie and fat content of the food you are served will not be exactly the same as what’s advertised on the menu or company website, but it should be in the ballpark.

That was not always the case with Denny’s Fit Slam breakfast. At two of the three locations Consumer Reports visited, the Fit Slam generally matched the advertised claim of 390 calories and 12 grams of fat. But at the third location, it was way off the mark: 494 calories and 19 grams of fat.

In a statement, Denny's said that it had not reviewed Consumer Reports' findings.

"Our goal is for each of our menu items to be created identically each time they are prepared," the statement said. "However, because all of Denny's food is prepared fresh and made to order by an individual cook, every dish is unique, including the exact portion size and the precise formulation or ingredient ratios. We recognize the importance of providing our guests with as accurate nutritional information as possible and will continue to do so.”

The National Restaurant Association says its members take extensive measures to make sure the nutritional information they provide customers is as accurate as possible. 

“But there are variations due to portion size and individual restaurant preparation, as well as the inherent variability of the food itself,” noted Joy Dubost, director of Nutrition at the National Restaurant Association.

The numbers will also be off if the portion size of the meal you’re served varies significantly from what is on the menu.

Consumer Reports found that serving sizes at the same chain “ran the gamut” from location to location.  For example, the Fettuccine Alfredo at the three Olive Garden restaurants visited weighed roughly 14 to 22 ounces.

The editors said portion sizes also “varied widely” at Applebee’s, Denny’s and Red Lobster.

National menu labeling on the way
Menu labeling is required in California and Vermont, and in a few major cities: New York City, Seattle and Philadelphia. It will soon be mandatory at chain restaurants – those with 20 or more locations – nationwide.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue rules about nutrition labeling by this fall. They would take effect in late 2014.

 “Over time, this will help people make more informed choices and cut calories,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “And just as importantly, it provides an incentive for the restaurants to reformulate their items.”

We all have them: those work tasks hanging over our head that we keep putting off even though doing so makes us feel even worse.

Tap into that guilt over unaccomplished tasks and use it to make you a more productive worker, said Nick Jehlen, partner at design consulting firm Action Mill.

Jehlen started an experiment he dubbed “guilt hour.” At a weekly meeting, workers publicly identified the undone task they felt the most guilty about putting off. Everyone spent the rest of the hour tackling the task they named. “It was instantly helpful,” Jehlen said.

Jehlen said that the “social aspect,” in which co-workers will offer to help out or share a burden, is one benefit, since tasks can be transferred but a person's sense of guilt hanging over it doesn't go along with it. “People feel guilty about something they’re not doing ... but somebody else can take it off their plate and not feel guilty about it," he said.

It’s possible to use guilt in a positive way to complete tasks even without group feedback, though. There are a couple of principles that anyone can apply to their own backlog of dreaded duties, Jehlen said.

One reason “guilt hour” works is because people spend an entire hour working on just their individual single tasks. “It’s a huge, huge part of it,” Jehlen said.

"Attention has become the most critical barrier today to high performance and productivity," Louis S. Csoka, president and founder of APEX Performance, said via email.

“Multi-tasking and other things can diminish our productivity,” said Taya R. Cohen, assistant professor of organizational behavior and theory at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University. “With procrastination, often it’s just starting or carving out that time.”

Making the time is one catalyst to getting the job done. Another is saying you’ll do the task you’re putting off in front of other people.

“Accountability can be a really powerful tool,” said Mark Ellwood, president of Pace Productivity. He created a website called BuddyHive.com to help workers stuck in a rut on a personal or professional project. They can use the site to find like-minded people who will check in with them, offer advice and hold them accountable. 

It’s also worth taking a look at what kinds of tasks you tend to put off, and which ones you feel the worst about shirking. “Anytime you’re asking somebody for a favor or advice, that’s the kind of thing that often comes up” in guilt hour, Jehlen said.

Ellwood said administrative tasks are often blamed for sapping productivity. “The sorts of things people are procrastinating are the things they don’t see as adding value to their jobs," he said. But although we might not see them as valuable, paperwork and the like can prompt stronger feelings of guilt because these tasks often hold up someone else's workflow if they're left undone. 

Cohen added that it’s also important to keep the guilt focused on a specific task. “Guilt can be good if if’s focused on specific behaviors you can then do something about.” Feeling bad about yourself as a person and your work overall, though, can be detrimental.

If done wrong, tapping workplace guilt can be bad for morale. "This is a negative approach to something that should be looked at it in a more positive and encouraging mode," Csoka said. People would be better off just developing and executing a clear goal plan, he said.

But if an unfinished task is really putting a drag on productivity, acknowledging the feelings you have about it might not hurt. “The longer you don’t do it, the more guilty you feel about it and the harder it is to get done,” Jehlen said. So, block out an hour on your calendar and alleviate your guilt.

Nati Harnik / AP file

Margery Gibbs uses coupons at a store in Omaha, Neb., in 2009. Coupon use fell in 2012 after several strong years.

The good, old-fashioned coupon – which surged in popularity in recent years – appears to be falling out of favor.

Two separate studies show that coupon use declined significantly in 2012.

One study, from coupon industry consulting firm Inmar, found that about 3 billion coupons were redeemed in 2012, a drop of about 14.3 percent from approximately 3.5 billion coupons redeemed in 2011. Another, from NCH Marketing Services, found that coupon use fell by 17 percent in 2012 over the year before.

The drop came after several good years for the coupon, which seemed to indicate that the weak economy had helped bring coupon clipping back in style. The coupon has even enjoyed its 15 minutes of pop culture fame thanks to the reality show “Extreme Couponing,” which documents people using thousands of coupons to save hundreds of dollars stockpiling diapers, paper towels and other items.

But experts say that while frugality is still in vogue, many shoppers have gotten so savvy at saving money that they've moved past the coupon.

“It was like the training wheels … to teach people how to save money,” Phil Lempert, the chief executive of Supermarket Guru, said of coupons.

Experts say it’s pretty common for coupon use to rise when the economy goes south, and start falling as the economy gets better.

But the economic gains in 2012 weren’t really strong enough to warrant people giving up their frugal habits. In addition, experts say they saw plenty of other reasons that coupon use has declined.

“It’s sort of a thousand cuts,” said David Mounts, the chief executive of Inmar. “It’s little things here and there.”

For starters, there were slightly fewer coupons. The industry distributed about 310 billion coupons in 2012, down from 313 billion in 2011 and a big drop from 336 billion in 2010, according to Inmar’s research.

Last year’s batch of coupons also tended to be for smaller discounts and to expire more quickly than in the past, Mounts said.

In addition, shopping habits have changed.

Some customers have started to want more than a one-size-fits-all coupon that you clip out of a Sunday newspaper, Mounts said.  Instead, more shoppers are looking for personalized deals that more closely match their shopping habits. They also want deals that are delivered digitally so they don’t have to manage a stack of paper.

So far, though, those types of coupons aren’t that widespread. Inmar’s data shows that more than four in 10 coupons still come from the newspaper inserts.

Frugally minded shoppers also are finding even more sophisticated ways to save money, said Lempert of Supermarket Guru, which tracks customer shopping habits.

These days, he’s seeing more savvy shoppers going to multiple stores to find the best prices on food and other items. Their stops may include drugstores, dollar stores, warehouse chains like Costco and specialty grocers such as Trader Joe’s.

They’re also turning more to store brands that may be cheaper than name brands, even when there’s a coupon for the branded item, he said.

Many younger customers also are constantly changing their eating and shopping habits, he said, and may not be as interested in buying the items that are traditionally discounted with coupons. They also may be more captivated by new types of ways to save, such as a four-hour sale promoted on Twitter.

“Frankly, the coupons weren’t meeting their needs,” Lempert said.

The extreme couponing fad may not have helped either.

The trend sparked a backlash among some in the industry, who alleged that the TV show set unrealistic expectations.

Lempert thinks it also made some shoppers feel uneasy. He said he receives thousands of emails a week from shoppers, and reaction to extreme couponing was largely negative.

Despite such challenges, experts say the coupon industry is adapting to changing customer preferences. Inmar’s early data from the start of 2013 appears to be showing more positive trends in coupon use than last year, Mounts said, which suggests coupon clipping likely won't disappear completely any time soon.

The Internal Revenue Service is taking a ribbing for going where many companies have gone before: into the world of bad video parodies.

The IRS conceded that it erred when it spent thousands of dollars in taxpayer money making a video riffing off the TV show “Star Trek” for a 2010 employee conference.

“The space parody video from 2010 is not reflective of overall IRS video efforts, which provide critical information to taxpayers and cost-effective employee training critical to running the nation’s tax system,” the IRS said in a statement released to TODAY.

But the IRS defended a separate video parody of “Gilligan’s Island,” which it said provided valuable training at a fraction of the cost of training people in person.

The two videos cost taxpayers about $60,000. The videos came to light after Congressman Charles Boustany, chairman of the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, demanded that the IRS provide more information about its video budget and productions.

“There is nothing more infuriating to a taxpayer than to find out the government is using their hard-earned dollars in a way that is frivolous,” Boustany said in a statement released to TODAY by the House Ways and Means Committee.

The IRS noted that it has made dozens of more straightforward videos offerings taxpayer tips about topics such as preventing identity theft or understanding the earned income tax credit. IRS YouTube videos have been viewed more than 5 million times.

The government agency also defended its efforts to save money, noting that it had saved nearly $1 billion between fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2013.

“The IRS recognizes and takes seriously our obligation to be good stewards of government resources,” the statement said.

The IRS had a budget of about $11.8 billion in fiscal year 2012, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent agency charged with assisting taxpayers. The advocate has argued that the IRS is “significantly and chronically underfunded” to serve the needs of taxpayers.

It’s not the first time a government agency has invoked “Star Trek” to get its message across. Actress Patty Duke and “Star Trek” alum George Takei recorded a series of public service announcements for the Social Security Administration.

Economists predicted catastrophe: As workers started taking home paychecks in January that were 2 percent lighter – thanks to the expiration of the payroll tax cut – they thought consumer confidence and spending would tank.

So far, it hasn’t.

Retail sales rose more than analysts expected last month, and consumer confidence rebounded. In a new survey from Bankrate.com, 48 percent of respondents said they didn’t notice having less money, while 7 percent said it hasn’t affected their finances.

“It was a little anti-climactic,” said Portland, Ore. resident Taraneh Fultz, who works at a distribution company. “It wasn’t as big a deal as we were actually thinking.” Fultz said she and her husband might return some of the discretionary income they had shaved from their budget in anticipation of the tax increase.

“It wasn’t until I saw my paycheck that I realized how important 2 percent was. That’s not to say it was devastating for us. ... It definitely wasn’t,” said Alex Shorter, who works at a technology company in Atlanta. “In the grand scheme of things, it hasn’t affected our standard of living.”

“It’s very encouraging. It means other things going on are helping,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. "We are weathering the storm well, at least so far, better than I would have thought."

Zandi cautioned against reading too much into a survey of consumer perceptions, noting that the impact could take longer to manifest, but he said record highs in the stock market and a rebounding real estate market contribute to the so-called “wealth effect.”

The stock market and higher home values don’t put money into people’s pockets, but people are willing to save less and spend more, Zandi said.

Shorter, who works at the IT company, said his family’s savings are aggressive but that “ultimately, we are putting a little less into savings as a result of this.”

“The job creation numbers were sufficient to make consumers believe that their economic situation was improving,” said Richard Curtin, director of Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center, which publishes a monthly survey of consumer confidence. For February, consumer sentiment rose roughly 5 percent over January’s figure.

“Hours increased and employment increased, so more people had more money in their income even if taxes were higher,” Curtin said.

Only 30 percent of respondents to Bankrate’s survey said they cut spending. This figured prominently among the middle class: 42 percent of respondents with household incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 said they were spending less.

Bryan Smith, a police officer in Haledon, N.J., said his family planned to spend less this year anyway because of rising healthcare costs and a deferred raise. “You forget it’s there but you got used to that little bit extra,” he said.

That was the idea. The two-year reduction in an employee’s portion of the payroll tax that gets funneled toward Social Security to 4.2 percent from 6.2 percent was a measure designed to trickle-charge rather than to jump start the economy.

In other words: Rather than give Americans a lump sum — which would be more likely saved or used to pay down debt — doling out a few bucks more per paycheck increased the odds that they would feed that money back into the economy without really thinking about it.

“That’s the beauty of this approach to doing a stimulus. It’s stealthy,” Zandi, the Moody’s analyst, said.

It was a boost consumers weren’t supposed to notice, so it might not be so surprising that so many didn’t notice its disappearance.

American Eagle Outfitters shows its cheeky side in a video ad for a new pair of skinny jeans so tight, they’re practically sprayed on.

That’s because they are.

It takes a brave person to wear the AEO Skinny Skinny, hawked in a 30-second faux ad going viral. The video features young people expressing ways to emphasize their creativity and individuality – and their preference for jeans that feel like almost nothing.

The video contains a link to American Eagle’s website, where limited edition cans of the spray on jeans are sold for $49.95 each. (They’re available in “indigo” or “bright” wash.)

But snap! Try adding the cans to your shopping bag and you get the following pop-up message:

“Sorry! The AEO Skinny Skinny is temporarily sold out. Enter your email below and we’ll let you know when the Skinny Skinny is back in stock!”

For the record, Skinny Skinny spray-on jeans don’t exist, said Bob Holobinko, vice president of brand marketing for American Eagle.

"We are not selling it, just to be clear,” he clarified Friday on TODAY, as two models showed off the "jeans." The brave pair were painted for the appearance in conjunction with CollegeHumor.com. 

“We just wanted to have fun, and have fun with our fans,” he said. “And it was a good opportunity to kind of push it from a brand standpoint and the response has been incredible.”

The YouTube video has generated more than 348,000 views so far.

Story: How to find your dream jeans

In the ad, one young man says, “I like skinny jeans. Sometimes they’re not skinny enough.” He is then shown skateboarding wearing a jacket and nothing below but some dark blue spray paint.

A woman declares, “I love really skinny jeans,” before the camera shows a tight shot of her "Avatar"-blue derriere.

Peter Shankman, an independent marketing consultant, called the campaign “brilliant.” Although people watching the ad knows the product is fake, it still draws them to the retailer’s website.

“Let’s be honest, when was the last time you heard about a good American Eagle ad?” he said. “It was a while ago. So this is phenomenal. A great way to bust out from the mainstream. People are talking about it.”

Holobinko said the video is the first installment of a campaign they consider “a journey.” A second release will be issued next week and people who enter their email on the “Skinny Skinny” site will get additional information.

“So for all of our customers that have come along with us, there’s going to be a really great reveal at the very end,” he said.

Although some may consider the commercial daring, Holobinko said they were very careful putting the final product together.

“We knew we were putting ourselves out there, I think that was the goal,” he said. “But even through the edit and through the filtering process we had to be cautious of what we were showing. But we think we landed in a good spot.”

More: Frugal Friday: How to save money on those pricey pets 
Pepsi bottle gets a makeover after 17 years 

This week on Frugal Friday, we’re focusing on the furry members of the family: our pets. And in addition to linking to as many cute pictures of puppies as we can, we’ll also be talking about the major pet spending categories -- and how you can save on each. 

Pet Food
The American Pet Products Association recently released a survey that revealed we spent a whopping $53 billion on our pets last year. Of that figure, $20.6 billion was spent on pet food. Now, we love our pets as much as the next person, but the thing to remember is that as long as the food you buy them contains real meat ingredients, they’re not going notice incremental differences in quality beyond that. 

“I don’t believe owners have to go to organic,” veterinarian Karen Halligan said. “It’s not documented that they live longer, like humans do.” She noted that owners should look at the first two ingredients in any pet food to make sure that they’re meat-based and not veggie-based. With a veggie-based food, there’s more filler, which Halligan said means “your pet has to go to the bathroom more because it’s pooping out all the filler.”

To save money on your chow of choice, check out Petco.com, which is running a 20-percent off promotion across its entire website -- and sales prices are good through March 28. Also, if you have a favorite brand of pet food, don’t forget to check its website to see if they’re offering any coupons. Purina, for instance, is currently offering five different coupons for various cat and dog food products.  

Pet Medicine
It’s important to protect your pet from fleas, ticks and other ailments, but doing so can be costly. Halligan recommends looking into generic versions of pet medication, just as you’d look for generic versions of the medicines you use for yourself. When it comes to flea and tick protection, her favorite generic -- because it’s been tested extensively -- is PetArmor, which retails for nearly half of what you’d pay for the “name brand,” Frontline Plus. Halligan noted that Frontline Plus is great for treating a flea infestation, but if you’re simply looking to prevent fleas, PetArmor is just as effective. And in addition to retailing for a lower price point, PetAmor is also currently offering a $5-off coupon on its website.

Leashes
If you’re not lucky enough to have a large yard and electric fence, you’ll need a good leash that can withstand wind, rain, and your dog trying to nab the scraps of pizza that fall in the street. Vet Halligan advises avoiding the temptation of buying a leash because it’s pretty -- instead, you want something that fits the dog you own. That means something thick and durable for your Rottweiler, while you can get something a little lighter for your 10-pound Yorkie. Kmart is currently running a 10-percent promotion on the latter type of leash, the Majestic Pet Lead Purple -- and they’re throwing in free shipping, too!

More from Jean Chatzky

It’s well known that U.S. medical costs are more than double that of other developed countries, which is why, in a bid to lower insurance premiums, companies encourage their employees to be healthy.

Exercise, they urge workers, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, limit fast food and – above all – don’t smoke.

Sometimes this encouragement takes the form of a wellness plan – maybe offering $25 gift certificates to those who meet personal goals – but some companies take a more aggressive approach. This week, CVS Caremark made waves when it told employees to reveal their weight – or pay a monthly $50 penalty.

The drug retailing company is not alone, and as many TODAY readers pointed out – is mild compared to what they’ve gone through to lower health care premiums. Dozens said they had to give blood samples, although not all were upset by the requirement.

“My company already does something similar to this and I don't see the big deal,” said one reader. “Technically it isn't mandatory. You can either submit the basic info (BMI, glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure) and pay a discounted monthly rate, or not submit anything and pay the full monthly rate. It's just a discount for submitting the info – just like for my car insurance I get a discount for submitting my mileage and for being a ‘good driver.’"

One reader, self-described as 50 and “in relatively good health,” wrote: “We had to give information of weight, height etc., then the ‘plan administrators’ came back and told us what is wrong with us. … They even had a pedometer tethered to my hip for over 3 months to monitor my physical activity.”

But many readers lambasted CVS for invasion of privacy.

Wrote one: “This is a MASSIVE invasion of privacy that is headed towards your employer tell you what and how much food you can eat, the number of beers you can consume and what activity, i.e. motorcycling, rock climbing or anything that might even remotely be considered risky.”

One reader was sarcastic, noting that CVS sells cigarettes: “I wonder if CVS will eliminate their candy display and other unhealthy items they carry?”

Other readers argued that people need tough love: “It seems like the only way to do this anymore is to hit people where it matters ... in their wallet.”

A contentious divorce involving an Oklahoma oil baron could potentially lead to a multibillion-dollar settlement for his estranged wife that would be the biggest in U.S. history.

Harold Hamm, 67, the chief executive of Continental Resources, is in the midst of divorce proceedings with his second wife, former Continental Resources executive Sue Ann Hamm. After filing for divorce on May 19, 2012, she has claimed in court documents that her husband was unfaithful during their marriage. He has acknowledged that the couple separated back in 2005, and the two have lived separate lives ever since.

Hamm is worth an estimated $11.3 billion and was No. 35 on last year’s list of the 50 richest Americans put out by Forbes. The potential settlement his wife could receive may exceed the more than $1.7 billion paid out in 1999 to Anna Murdoch, the ex-wife of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, depending on whether or not there was a prenuptial agreement.

“This is the King Kong of divorce cases,’’ divorce attorney Raoul Felder told TODAY. “Vast fortune. Sue Ann stands to make lots and lots of money, more than what is really on the table.’’

The control of Continental Resources also could be at stake, as Harold has a 68 percent stake in the $11.2 billion company that could be considered marital property and divided up in a potential settlement. Since news of the divorce became public on Thursday, shares of Continental Resources have fallen by almost 3 percent.

Hamm was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine, and served as an energy adviser in Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. The couple married in 1988 and have two adult children. Harold Hamm also has three children from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1987.

The couple’s marriage has been tempestuous for the last 15 years. Harold filed for divorce in 1998 and ordered Sue Ann to undergo a psychological evaluation before he later withdrew the divorce petition, according to a report by Reuters. Sue Ann filed for divorce in 2005, but the case was dropped.

Read more: 

Living with less: Tech millionaire downsizes to 420 square feet

Pepsi bottles get a makeover after 17 years

Feds crack down on 'discriminatory' auto loans

AP

Pepsi bottles get a makeover. Too lumpy?

Pepsi is rolling out a new shape for its 20-ounce bottle for the first time in about 17 years.

The new bottle has a contoured bottom half that appears easier to grip, and the wraparound label is shorter so that more of the drink is exposed. The change follows a number of splashy moves in the past year by PepsiCo to improve results for its namesake soda, including a multiyear deal to sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show and a wide-ranging deal with pop star Beyonce.

PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., has been working to revitalize the brand after losing market share to Coca-Cola Co. in recent years.

Andrea Foote, a PepsiCo spokeswoman, said the new 20-ounce bottle is part of the company's ongoing update of marketing and packaging materials for the cola. The single-serve bottles, which are widely sold in coolers at drugstores and other retailers, will begin rolling out in April. The new shape will also be used for the 16-ounce bottles, which aren't as common, as well as Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max and Pepsi Next.

Foote said it will take a year or two before the new bottles entirely replace the current bottles, which she says were introduced in 1996.

"The engineers have to go to all the plants and convert the lines," Foote said. The new bottles will first appear in the New York area, then roll out to Chicago, parts of California and Florida.

Coca-Cola, based in Atlanta, says its current 20-ounce contour bottle made its U.S. debut in 1993. Small changes were made over the years, such as making the surface easier to grip and shortening the neck of the bottle.

Despite PepsiCo's stepped up efforts, its beverage volume in North America declined by 4 percent last year. That included a 4 percent declined in carbonated soft drinks and a 3 percent decline in non-carbonated drinks, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

PepsiCo makes a wide range of products, including Frito-Lay chips, Gatorade, Quaker Oats and Tropicana. But it has long been defined by its namesake soda and its rivalry with Coca-Cola.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday told auto lenders that they would be held responsible for “unlawful, discriminatory pricing” by auto dealers that costs minority customers millions of dollars a year in higher interest rates.

“Consumers should not have to pay more for a car loan simply based on their race,” said the agency's director, Richard Cordray, in a statement.

It works like this: A potential car buyer finances the vehicle through the dealership. The dealer sells the loan to what’s known as an indirect auto lender, which can be a bank, credit union or finance company.  

Before the dealer’s finance department sets the price of the loan, it contacts the lender to see what interest rate they’ll accept. Some lenders allow the dealer to increase that rate and keep some or all of that extra revenue.

“There’s no way to know if the loan is marked up or by how much,” said Chris Kukla, senior vice president at the Center for Responsible Lending. “Past lawsuits have shown that borrowers of color were more likely to pay a markup. And when they did, they paid more than similarly-situated white borrowers.”

The NAACP is pleased that the consumer agency is tackling the issue.

“Those who have the least to lose are losing the most with these types of nefarious practices,” said Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, the NAACP’s senior director of economic programs.

The National Automobile Dealers Association and the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers said they strongly oppose any form of discrimination, but they cautioned that a change in the way dealers are compensated could drive up the cost of credit.

“The dealer-assisted financing model (indirect auto lending) has been enormously successful in both increasing access to, and reducing the cost of, credit for millions of Americans. Consumers overwhelmingly choose optional dealer-assisted financing because it’s convenient and competitive,” they said in a statement.

Consumer advocates call this markup disparity a “widespread practice” that they’ve been trying to stop since the mid-1990s. The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) sued various lenders about this practice.

“In our lawsuits, we were able to show that the loans for African Americans and Hispanics were marked up more often than whites and the mark-ups were higher than whites, even though they had equal credit scores,” said NCLC attorney John Van Alyst.

For example, the NCLC found that black car buyers in the Northeast who financed through a dealership with one of the major auto company lenders paid an average dealer markup of $451. That compares with just $183 for white customers with similar credit histories. (Read the full report: Racial Disparities in Auto Lending)

The CFPB told indirect auto lenders to make sure fair lending laws are being followed, by paying a flat fee per transaction and eliminating dealer discretion to markup prices.

Consumer groups agree that it’s time for the current system, with hidden fees that are randomly set, to go away. 

“Buying a car is already one of the most challenging and complicated buying decisions consumers make, to further compound the purchase by discriminatory loan practices is deplorable,” said Jack Gillis, director of public affairs with the Consumer Federation of America and author of "The Car Book." “The tragedy is that many buyers probably don’t even know they are being discriminated against.”

Your best defense is to shop around for financing outside of the dealership, so you’ll know what’s fair inside their finance offices, Gillis advised.

More information:

News release: CFPB to Hold Auto Lenders Accountable for illegal, discriminatory markup

FCPB tipsheet: Buying a Car? Here’s What You Need to Know

FTC: Understanding Vehicle Financing

Consumer Reports: How to Get the Best Car Loan

After selling his tech start-up for millions in the 1990s, Graham Hill lived in a mansion in Seattle stocked with expensive furniture, the latest gadgets, and flashy cars in the driveway.

Hill still has the money, but now he lives in a sparsely-furnished, 420-square foot studio apartment in New York City — and he couldn’t be happier.

An advocate of the minimalist lifestyle, Hill showed TODAY’S Craig Melvin how less could be more with a tour of his apartment, which features a fold-down bed, a table that extends to seat 12 guests for dinner, and an office space that recedes into the wall.

“People understand that we have super-sized, and it's not really working for us and maybe there's a better solution,’’ Hill said in a segment on TODAY Thursday. “I think life is about experiences and about connections and about relationships, and I think you want to maximize your time focused on that and minimize your time focused on acquiring more stuff and dealing with it."

Hill’s current lifestyle, which he described earlier this month in an op-ed for the New York Times as well as a TED talk last year that has received nearly two million views online, is a far cry from his “MTV Cribs’’ existence in the 1990s. While jet-setting around the world, he realized the things he owned were starting to own him.

“That process of acquiring lots of stuff relatively quickly and feeling sort of wasteful and not very conscious about the whole thing and realizing at the end of the day, it didn't really make me any happier than my smaller, simpler life,’’ Hill said.

At the practical level, Hill now has a lot less clutter to worry about. His dining ware consists of 10 shallow bowls for salads and dishes, he only owns six dress shirts, and he doesn’t have a single DVD. He also points out that having less space to heat and cool means saving money on bills.

“Less stuff to take care of, less stuff to think about, less stuff to maintain, easier to find things — it’s just overall simpler,’’ he said.

Hill does acknowledge that the minimalist lifestyle gets a lot tougher to maintain for those married with children. As Melvin noted after one look into Hill’s stripped down bathroom, “This is a bachelor's bathroom. If you were married, there is no way you share this space with the wife.”

Despite its challenges, Hill still believes the lifestyle can benefit many and is looking to take his approach to the masses by working with a developer.

“I want to build larger buildings composed of small spaces paired with a lot of community,’’ he said.

More from TODAY: 
Photographer aims to meet all 788 of his Facebook friends in person
Kate Upton to teen's prom request: 'I'd love to go....'

Photo courtesy of Alcoa

Janne Sigurdsson, managing director of the Fjardaal smelter in Iceland, says that women need to be encouraged to apply for promotions, because they often don't believe they are qualified.

NEW YORK – Many companies pay lip service to workplace diversity, but few go as far as Coca-Cola, which aims to reach gender parity across all levels of its business by 2020.

“It makes pure, good business sense,” Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said Tuesday when discussing his initiative, launched in 2008.

Coca-Cola Co., Alcoa Inc. and Unilever on Tuesday were presented Catalyst Awards for their global diversity strategies. The awards event, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, focused on how other companies can get there too.

“This is hard work. It doesn’t just happen because you want it to,” Kent said. Under Coke’s Global Women’s Initiative, senior-level positions held by women have increased to nearly 30 percent globally from 23 percent, according to the company’s records. Coke’s initiative extends beyond its doors to empower and train women in their communities.

The Coca-Cola plan was triggered by company research that indicated that, globally, women make more than 70 percent of purchasing decisions related to its products.

Implementing the plan, the company set milestones, benchmarks and accountability for the managers. One way to provide clarity for managers, Kent said, is to make it a core goal that impacts pay. “You start shaping your compensation around success in this program,” Kent said. “When you talk about it in those terms, it really resonates.”

“We also made sure everybody understood the business case for it,” said Kathy Waller, Coca-Cola vice president, controller and chair of the company’s Women’s Leadership Council. 

Alcoa, the world’s leading aluminum producer, between 2008 and 2012 increased its female representation to 19 percent from 16 percent among executives, and to 25 percent from 22 percent for professional and plant manager roles. Those percentages increased even as the company cut its global workforce by 30 percent.

“It’s an obvious business imperative if you want to outperform your competition, you have to bring in women,” said Glen Morrison, president of Alcoa Building and Construction Systems.

Alcoa officials said they use outreach efforts and 10-percent bonuses, among other measures, for managers who meet diversity requirements to encourage women to join and stay at the company.

Morrison said it’s critical for companies to create an environment where women can return after having children. “Otherwise you’re grooming this great talent and you’re letting it out of the workplace,” Morrison said.

Janne Sigurdsson is an Alcoa success story. Hired seven years ago as the IT manager for a smelting plant in Iceland, she’s now running the smelter, which is Alcoa’s lowest-cost and most efficient.

At her remote Iceland plant, 33 percent of the managers are women; overall, 22 percent of the workers are women. The goal for the plant is 50 percent. “It’s a tough goal,” Sigurdsson said.

“You need to do something extra,” she said when asked how to hire and retain women.

Sometimes it means sending promising employees back to school, or, as was her case,  doling out encouragement to apply for a promotion.

“I’m not sure I would have applied,” Sigurdsson said of one of her five job changes at the plant. “I was not sure I was ready.”

While she’s not always on the smelter floor, even office staff is trained to do dirty work when the power goes out at the plant, which operates 24/7. “I can change the anodes. I can do pot-tending. I can do that when we have a crisis,” Sigurdsson said.

The Catalyst Awards were launched 1987 by the non-profit Catalyst group, which seeks to expand opportunities for women and business.

For most of us, doing the income tax return is a major project. The laws are confusing and they keep changing all the time.

During a TODAY Money web chat on Wednesday, Mark Steber, Chief Tax Officer with Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, answered a variety of tax questions. 

Here's one that may affect you or someone in your family:

Andrew: I owe the IRS over $2,500 this year. And I simply don’t have the money. What should I do? File an extension? Ask for a payment plan? My wife and I are freaking out. Help!

Mark Steber: First, don’t freak out. There are many like you and much help is available. Second, do not simply file for an extension, as would not likely be valid with such a balance due. The extension would be invalid and the tax return late in addition to underpaid.

Having said all of that, there are options as you note. The IRS offers a pretty good payment plan option. The plan allows up to 72 months to pay your taxes. There is a fee of $105, $52 if you agree to electronic debit of your monthly payment.

Other considerations – as we noted earlier – include possibly using a credit card for short term financing.

Read the full Q & A below: