TODAY Money expert and Life Inc. blogger Allison Linn chatted live with TODAY.com readers Thursday afternoon about coupon tips for beginners.

Check out her original article about how a crowded coupon industry competes for users. Then read two questions from the live chat session and the complete archive below.

Question:
Is there a website that provides info on getting started with coupons? 

Allison's answer:
That's a great question. I think there are definitely way too many coupon sites out there, and it can be tough to figure out which ones are legit.

Hip2Save helps break down the crazy world with their "Coupon Newbie" site. 

Also, The Consumerist - a site we love - recently posted a great list of printable coupon sites.

Whenever I'm going to buy something that's a bit expensive, I just do a regular web search to see if I can find a coupon code. You'd be surprised how often you can find a discount code out there, if you just take a few minutes.

Elizabeth's question:
My kids ages 6 and 8 know not to ask for something unless it's on sale and I have a coupon! However, I wonder if I'm sometimes buying things just because it's a great deal. My pantry is filled to the brim and so is my freezer.

Allison's answer:
It sounds like you are teaching your kids some great lessons in frugality, but I do think you may consider if you're going overboard!

My rule of thumb is generally to try to use coupons for things I would normally buy. There are exceptions, of course, but you may want to put yourself on a coupon shopping diet until you can work through some of the foods you already have!

That will be another good financial lesson for your kids.

Complete archive:

If you have a question for our TODAY Money experts, submit it here.

To sign up for an e-mail reminder for our next chat, click here.

Justin Lubin / NBC

Newlyweds Jim and Pam of "The Office" have a baby and a new home, and it's safe to say that even in TV Land they are dealing with some serious anxiety over money.

In its series "Do TV characters share your money problems?" our partner Bankrate.com offers some advice for America's favorite TV couple from certified financial planner Kimberly Foss, of Roseville, Calif:

Establish a budget and emergency fund: After they create a spending plan, Jim and Pam's first savings goal should be to have at least six months' of living expenses stashed away.

Life insurance: They need to make sure that if one of them were to die, the surviving spouse would have enough money to sustain their lifestyle. A ballpark figure would be five to 10 times their annual salary.

Saving for retirement: Although they have a new baby, their retirement fund needs to take priority over college savings. They should be socking away as much as they can into their 401(k)s.

Saving for college: After they've maxed out their retirement plan contributions, the couple can then turn their eyes toward funding their child's education. Opening a 529 account on their child's first birthday is a good start.

This is sound advice for any young couple starting out their new lives together. For Bankrate's complete story, click here.

Newport Beach

Lifeguarding can be good gig: You get to work on your tan, the views are spectacular and there's the satisfaction of knowing you're protecting lives.

And if you work in Newport Beach, Calif., you can make David Hasselhoff-sized pay of more than $200,000 in wages and benefits.

Where do I sign up?

More than half the city's 14 full-time lifeguards collected more than $150,000 in total compensation last year, and two made more than $200,000, according to The Orange County Register.

A look at the 2010-2011 budget document suggests that much of the cost stems from health insurance and a reserve for pensions,  a fact confirmed by City Manager David Kiff.

"I think the base pay for the seasonal lifeguards and for entry- and mid-level full-time lifeguards is about right and is at the market rate for ocean lifeguards in California," Kiff said. "But the pension benefit is too costly and can't be sustained."

According to the budget document, the city's highest-paid lifeguard battalion chief gets an annual salary of about $119,000 and total compensation of $187,782. Overtime shifts and "night-time standby pay" pushed the chief's total compensation to $211,000 in 2010, Kiff said.

Other lifeguards get salaries ranging from $60,000 to $100,000, plus benefits valued at $42,000 to $62,000 per person, according to city figures.

To be fair, lifeguards provide a vital public service: An estimated 7.1 million people visited the city's beaches last year, and the Newport Beach lifeguard division, which is a part of the fire department, made 2,190 rescues. It's safe to say lifeguards working such a busy — and often treacherous — stretch of beach require a more specialized skill set than, say, the teens watching your local swimming pool.

The salaries and especially the benefits paid out to lifeguards have become a potent political issue in Southern California, with one advocacy group posting a YouTube video arguing that Newport Beach lifeguards enjoy the "lifestyle of the rich and famous."

The group, Americans for Prosperity-California, takes issue with pension benefits threatening to swamp many California municipalities. The video mentions one recently retired lifeguard, 51, who will get a government pension of $108,000 a year for life.

Brent Jacobsen, president of the Lifeguard Management Association, which represents the salaried lifeguards of Newport Beach, defended the compensation of the workers.

"We have negotiated very fair and very reasonable salaries in conjunction with comparable positions and other cities up and down the coast," he told the Register. "Lifeguard salaries here are well within the norm of other city employees."

But the salaries are outside the norm of what most lilfeguards can expect. Part-time lifeguards in Newport Beach make $16 to $22 an hour with no benefits. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for lifeguards, ski patrol and other recreation protective service workers is $20,490.

Getty Images stock

Thanks to the latest lazy foodie apps, her lunch will be waiting for her, and not the other way around.

Whether you’re trying to avoid the long line at your favorite food truck or want to order in supper that’s a step up from storefront Chinese food, these tools can help. Bon appetit!

Tapviva. Launching in June in the San Francisco Bay Area, this app allows you to place an order at participating food trucks and cafes right from your phone. When you arrive, your order will be waiting for you, instead of the other way around. (Free, available for iPhone and Android.)

GrubHub. Sick of the same old takeout? GrubHub aggregates menus from more than 13,000 restaurants in 13 cities, and organizes them into helpful categories like top-rated, delivery minimum, what time they start taking delivery orders and more. It also allows you to save past orders so you can easily reorder your favorites. (Free, available for iPhone and Android.)

VegOut. It’s a plight familiar to vegetarians everywhere — their friends plan a dinner out and they arrive to find a menu full of meat-friendly entrees, with one lone veggie dish thrown in. Enter VegOut, which lists restaurants that have vegetarian and vegan options by location. Your days of eating a paltry plate of overcooked plants are over. ($2.99, available for iPhone.)

Chewsy. There are tons of apps that allow you to rate restaurants. Chewsy goes one step further, giving users the option to rate individual menu items. Not sure what to order? Simply type in the name of the restaurant and user reviews on everything from their pork dumplings to pancetta-wrapped dates will pop up, saving you from a sour order every time. (Free, available for iPhone.)

Get more tips and recipes for seasonal eats at Made By Michelle.

Tony Dejak / AP

The job market is getting better, but – as any jobseeker knows – there’s still plenty of competition out there for any open position.

The government reported Wednesday that there were 3.1 million job openings in March, up slightly from the previous month. About 4 million people were hired in March, also a slight increase over the previous month.

 Still, the Economic Policy Institute reports that there continues to be more than four jobseekers for every job opening.

For unemployed people, those are a lot better odds than back in July of 2009, where there were nearly 7 unemployed people for every job opening, according to EPI's calculations. But it’s still a far cry from the good old days. In December of 2000, the EPI notes, there was pretty much a job available for everyone who was looking for one. 

There was another promising piece of news in the government report: Yet again in March, more people quit their jobs than were laid off.

EPI analyst Heidi Shierholz said noted that the likelihood of being laid off has declined dramatically since the height of the recession.

“Workers with a job today are no more likely to face a layoff than they were before the recession started — in fact, workers today are a little bit less likely to face a layoff than they were before the recession started,” she wrote in a brief released Wednesday.

Reuters

If you find yourself constantly stressed about money, making poor financial decisions that get you nowhere, you're not alone.

A new study provides insight into why some people are locked into these seemingly losing battles with their finances. The research, published in The Journal of Financial Therapy, identifies four basic attitudes that can hurt people’s finances.

These "money scripts" are usually unconscious and typically originate in childhood, said Professor Brad Klontz, one of the authors of the study. They drive our financial decisions and can have catastrophic effects on our finances and lives.

The four harmful money personalities:

• Money avoidance: Believing that money is bad or that you do not deserve money. For people with this personality, money can evoke feelings of fear, anxiety or disgust. Low-income, younger and single individuals were more likely to hold this attitude.
• Money worship: Believing that an increase in income or financial windfall will solve your problems. People with this attitude are likely to carry revolving debt. The most common money attitude found in Americans, Klontz suspects it could be a reaction by Baby Boomers to their parents' extreme frugality, which was developed as a survival mechanism during the Great Depression. "When parents take an extreme view of money, children will either emulate that attitude or do the exact opposite, which can be equally dysfunctional," Klontz said.
• Money status: Tying your self-worth to your net worth. Individuals who believe that money is a status symbol are more likely to be young, single, less educated, and less wealthy.
• Money vigilance: Being secretive about finances and overly wary of spending. In other words, the classic miser. While people with this trait are often financially secure, they often do not allow themselves to enjoy the benefits of having money. In extreme cases, it can lead to hoarding and underspending.

A healthy attitude about money requires flexibility, said Klontz, who worked as clinical psychologist in Hawaii and specializes in financial therapy.

"If we can identify our money scripts, have insight into the early experiences of our childhood and multigenerational patterns of money beliefs in our family, we can challenge and change financial beliefs that may be causing us financial harm or limiting our potential," Klontz said.

Nabisco

The new Triple Double Oreo will hit store shelves this summer.

 
First, there was the Oreo, a humble cookie developed in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known simply as Nabisco. Then came the variations: the Double Stuf, the chocolate-coated Fudge Cremes, the Mini Oreo. Now, Nabisco has confirmed to TODAY.com perhaps the most indulgent Oreo in existence — the Triple Double Oreo.

Mere rumors of the cookie innovation got the Internet buzzing. FoodBeast first broke the story with photos of the new product’s packaging from someone who supposedly does “pre-release product testing for Nabisco.” The Oreo prototype consists of not one, not two, but three layers of cookie, with one layer of the Oreo’s classic white creme filling and another made of chocolate creme.

The original leak came from Reddit user Palooz, followed by a few tweets that all claimed to have photos of the cookie. Speculation over the authenticity of the new Oreo was rampant until Basil T. Maglari, associate director of corporate affairs for Nabisco, told Today.com, “Yes, the rumors are true.”

Nabisco’s official statement: “This summer, Oreo will introduce a new 'twist' on the iconic cookie: the Triple Double Oreo. Three chocolate Oreo wafers with two layers of creme -- one classic vanilla, and one chocolate. While we tried our best to safeguard this news, we couldn't hold back the buzz.”

So there you have it. This summer, Oreo lovers will finally have something that makes the Double Stuf look healthy in comparison. Still, no matter how indulgent the prospect of three Oreo wafers stuck together with two different kinds of creme is, nothing will ever replace our county fair-style favorite: the deep-fried Oreo. That is, of course, until someone deep-fries the Triple Double.  

Managers, take note: That reorganization or other big change you're planning may well end up stressing your employees out.

That makes sense intuitively, and now here’s proof.

Researcher Michael S. Dahl looked at the medical histories of nearly 93,000 Danish employees at more than 1,500 of the largest companies in that country. He found that when companies made organizational changes, the company’s employees had a significantly higher risk of developing stress conditions such as insomnia, anxiety and depression that required prescription medication.

“In general, I find that change increases the probability of heightened stress for employees,” Dahl wrote in an article published in the February issue of Management Science.

That was especially true at companies undergoing several broad changes at the same time, he found.

For the study, Dahl looked at the Danish employees over an eight-year period between 1995 and 2003. He found that there was an increase in employees taking prescription medication to treat stress-related conditions at both companies with lots of organizational change and those without much change, reflecting an overall increase in that type of drug usage.

Still, at the companies where there was lots of change, a larger proportion of employees received one or more prescriptions for stress-related conditions.

Dahl, a professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, noted that stress can hurt productivity and work satisfaction – something that shouldn’t come as a surprise to stressed out workers.

Tip of the hat to the Harvard Business Review’s The Daily Stat for first reporting the study.

Christopher Akinyemi

Christopher Akinyemi hates feeling like a company has taken advantage of him. Like the rest of us, he gets angry at what seems like a constant stream of broken products, ignored warranties, screwed up reservations, endless phone calls and unwanted email.  But unlike most of us, the 22-year-old college student in Indiana puts his anger to good use.

He takes the culprits to small claims court.

He's filed a dozen cases in the past few years, and wins nearly all the time.  In 10 of the 12 cases, he said, companies have settled and sent cold, hard cash rather than a team of lawyers to fight him in court.

"I've stood up for the average Joe since I was 18. I put my foot down," said Akinyemi. "I have a heart for justice in business. ... I'm on a mission to show you don't have to pay a lawyer $225 an hour to get your voice heard."

For a trivial court fee -- usually $76 in Indiana -- Akinyemi often gets himself settlement checks of $500 or more. He also gets something most of us rarely taste: satisfaction.

In recent months, he's obtained settlements from companies like Lending Tree, Priceline, Dell, and Hewlett Packard. He's also served as the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against JP Morgan Chase -- that case was dismissed -- and has taken Bank of America, Hilton Hotels, and Sprint to court since he began his legal flourish in 2009.

"A lot of people, when they have a problem, wait on the phone and then ask to talk to a supervisor, and they just don't get anywhere. They ask to go higher, but they still are left hanging," he said. “I just try to change things one case at a time. People don’t forget me.”

Akinyemi took Hewlett Packard to court last year alleging repeated problems with a notebook computer he'd purchased. After several attempts to get the machine fixed or replaced, Akinyemi sued H-P for $1,300, plus $76 in court costs.

In June of last year, H-P agreed to pay Akinyemi $688 to settle the case, according to court documents he provided to msnbc.com. A Hewlett Packard spokesman declined to comment.

The H-P settlement also includes a "no future business" agreement, something Akinyemi is getting used to.  Most of his small claims settlements include such a provision, a rather blunt tool by corporations to rid themselves of troublesome consumers.

"I have one with Bank of America. That means for the rest of my life I can't ever do business with them, even if I live to be 100 years old," said Akinyemi. At this rate, Akinyemi may soon run out of businesses he can work with.

He sued Priceline earlier this year for $1,076, claiming the company booked a reservation for him with a rental car company that was not honored.

"I went through hell and high water trying to get that fixed," he said. There were dozens of phone calls between him, Priceline, and the rental company, but he couldn't get satisfaction until he filed suit.  His case was bolstered by extensive telephone call records.

"I'm very vigilant in these situations," he said.

In April, Priceline agreed to pay him $219 to settle the case, according to a document he provided. 

Priceline spokesman Brian Ek declined to comment about the situation.

The case Akinyemi filed against Lending Tree earlier this year is much more straightforward. He claimed that Lending Tree repeatedly sent him spam. He sued Lending tree for $3,000 -- $500 each for six unwanted messages he documented, the amount allowed under Indiana's spam law.  On April 19, Lending Tree agreed to pay him $500.

Lending Tree said it couldn't comment on the litigation, or on an individual consumer.

He also sued Dell Inc. earlier this year for trouble he was having with a Dell Studio XPS laptop he purchased two years.  In April, Dell agreed to pay him $376.

Akinyemi has lost two cases, but figures an 80 percent success rate is pretty good.  What's the secret to his success? The small claims court justice system gives him something all of us want when we're trying to get satisfaction from a big company -- a person on the other end of the phone who is empowered to solve the problem.

"When I talk to their attorneys, I try to have a conversation with them.  I'll say, 'You know you've done wrong.  Instead of paying your attorneys $225 to drive to the courthouse, why don't you talk to me right now and settle this?' They usually want to work with me," he said. 

The settlement amounts aren't enormous -- they won't pay for law school, which Akinyemi hopes to attend when he finishes his degree at Indiana Purdue University in Ft. Wayne in the fall.  But they do make a point -- and they often at least pay for his time and frustration.

"My mission isn't just to get a settlement check," he said.  "It's to make these companies do right by people. It's a principle."

Akinyemi got a taste for the ups and downs of the justice system in 2009, when he was accused of assault in Noble County, Ind.  All charges related to the incident were later dropped, his case dismissed, and his $5,000 bail money returned, but his reputation was damaged.

"A $10,000 retainer (legal fee) ... is what it cost me to prove my innocence, yet I never even got an apology from anyone," he said. 

At that point, Akinyemi had already signed on as the lead plaintiff in a case against JP Morgan Chase regarding a $100 coupon the firm had mailed to prospective new customers.  Akinyemi alleged that JP Morgan didn't honor the coupons unless consumers followed a list of unclear requirements -- including setting up direct deposit as part of the new account. Days after filing the case, JP Morgan deposited $100 in Akinyemi's account.  The lawsuit was dismissed -- a dismissal affirmed by an appeals court in May of 2009 -- because the court found Akinyemi had suffered no damages.

He did, however, get a feeling of satisfaction from using the legal system to get the attention of corporate America.  He was soon studying the ins and outs of small claims court, and began filing cases there whenever he felt mistreated by a company.

"My message to people is that no matter what your age, you don't have to be intimidated," he said.  "In my state, it costs just $76 to file in small claims court, and I know in some places, like California, it's even cheaper.  It's worth every penny, and you get justice. Every consumer should know how to use small claims court."

RED TAPE WRESTLING TIPS
It's easier than you think to file small claims court cases -- in some states, you can file them online. That means if your case settles, you never even have to go to court. Here's a good state-by-state list of resources, including how and where to file.

And here's a very simple set of advice on filing successful cases. In short: Be prepared, be polite and be reasonable.  That'll get you far.

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Zuma Press file

It pays to die. Check that. It pays to know who has died. If you then fleece the IRS, that is.

After reading on Forbes.com that the IRS paid $12.1 million in bogus tax refunds to 5,000-plus dead people for the tax year 2009, we won’t be using the word “victim.” See, we’re not sure who it applies to. The dead that had their identity stolen? The IRS? Every taxpayer? All of the above?

Interesting scam. Seems the Social Security Administration reports weekly to the IRS who dies. These reports are public, so persistent (note: not necessarily smart nor “computer-savvy”) criminals can then find out the deceased’s vital info, including Social Security number. They then need an Electronic Filing ID Number and boom.

The most open door in this unlocked house? All the claims were filed with the same Electronic Filing ID. It belongs to a Florida guy who says, naturally, he was paid $1,000 to apply for it, but never used it.

Forbes.com notes there have been no arrests yet.

More on the scam and a lengthy IRS response to Forbes.com’s inquiry is on their post.

We have one question: The filing ID always seemed a little stupid. We mean, the IRS got our SSN and bank info when we filed electronically. Why add another link in an obviously breakable chain? Aside from the last steps of e-filing seeming like filling out the same form at the doctor your filled out the last time and the last time and the last time, perhaps the IRS and Social Security Administration should worry about protecting a few, select pieces of information rather than add yet another to an already difficult-to-secure mix.

Richard Drew / AP file

Stung by two bear markets in the last decade, it's understandable that investors are still wary of dropping money into the stocks, but members of Generation X are playing it especially safe, SmartMoney reports.

Analyzing data from several investment companies and research groups, SmartMoney concluded that Americans in their 30s and early 40s are taking an increasingly conservative stance when it comes to stocks. That could spell trouble in future years if they neglect to adequately fund their retirement savings plans.

Consider these numbers:

• Members of Gen X had just 48 percent of their 401(k)s in equities at the end of 2009, down from 55 percent in 2007, according to the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute.
• Nearly 20 percent of Gen Xers don't have any stocks in their 401(k)s, and 19 percent have less than half in equities, a survey by consulting firm Aon Hewitt found.
• About 56 percent of Gen X households might not have enough in savings to maintain their current standard of living in retirement, according to an EBRI report.
• The average Gen X investor contribute just 4 percent of each paycheck to retirement savings, according to Vanguard. Most financial advisers recommend at least 10 percent.

Interesting statistics, for sure, but with the economy still on shaky ground and the fact that most portfolios have seen basically flat returns over the last decade, can you really fault the MTV generation for its reluctance to invest in Wall Street? 

Source: Deloitte analysis and Oxford Economics

Watch out, Connecticut. In a few years New Jersey will be crowned the state with the highest density of millionaires.

Last year, 14.2 percent of households in Connecticut had more than $1 million in assets. By 2020, 24.6 percent of the population of New Jersey is expected to by millionaires, according to a new study that maps out the global distribution of wealth.

California, Texas, New York and Florida will likely be home to the greatest number of millionaires in 2020, while the Midwest is forecast to have the fewest, according to the study, which was sponsored by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services.

Wealth among millionaire households could more than double over the next decade in 25 major economies, the study found, growing from an estimated $92 trillion this year to $202 trillion in 2020.

By Sean Fallon
Nerd Approved

I have to admit, my mother is hard to shop for — she doesn't seem to want anything. I got her a Kindle for her birthday a couple of months ago, which went over well, but I'm currently tapped out of ideas for Mother's Day. The problem is that I'm always trying to find a gift that she won't expect, something that she doesn't even know she wants. These products definitely have that surprise factor, but in most cases, the surprise might end up giving way to shock ... and/or horror. 

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Vibrating sauna pants

According to the product page, these vibrating sauna pants can reach temperatures of 95-160 degrees, which will help you sweat away the pounds. I don't know your mother, but I am almost 100 percent sure that she has never thought "Gee, wish there was a gadget out there that would make me sweat like a pig." I'm also fairly certain that a child who not-so-subtly suggests that their mother is overweight by gifting a giant, hot orange diaper isn't going to be her favorite. $39.98, Taylor Gifts.

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Portable watermelon cooler 

Hey Mom, I was going to get you a new set of suitcases and a plane ticket for a nice vacation, but then I remembered how much you said you loved watermelon that one time, so I got you watermelon luggage instead. It's nearly the same thing. It will keep your watermelon cool, and it can keep your watermelon hot for some reason. Yeah, it will handle all of your watermelon transportation needs. Why are you crying? $347.20, GeekStuff4U via That's Nerdalicious

The Elfoid phone

There are a lot of great smartphones on the market, so I suggest picking one of those up for your mother before you try and seek out this Elfoid phone from Japan. The creepy form factor was based on a previous robot design called Telenoid R1, and it features realistic-feeling skin, a camera that captures your emotions, and weird wriggling motions that make you feel like you are actually holding a tiny humanoid and talking into its belly. I mean, what are you trying to say with something like this? "Don't expect any grandchildren, but here's a phone baby. Enjoy!" Pricing not available. Asahi via Nerd Approved

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Coz-E

Where the Snuggie meets an electric blanket, you'll find Coz-E. Let's face it, blankets like this one are shameful to wear and electric blankets can be dangerous. No need to run the risk of the pain and embarrassment that comes with a Snuggie-related injury. $68, Urban Outfitters via Fashionably Geek

More craziness from Nerd Approved:

• The worst gifts ever
• 10 WTF gadgets for the home
• Blood type perfume
• 10 deliciously insane cooking gadgets
• The Slobstopper bib for adults

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Snail mail alert system

The POSTCN01 is basically a snail mail alert system. It automatically detects how many times the mailbox lid has been opened and then relays that information wirelessly to a portable display. Of course, you don't see many letters being written these days, so what you have really hooked your mother up with is a bill alert system. She'll love that. $50, Amazon Japan via Nerd Approved

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Kenzan head massager

So will your mother be massaging her head with this, or grating it like cheese? The odd-looking Head Kenzan has 92 flexible bristles to massage your scalp, promote relaxation and hopefully stimulate hair growth. Fingers crossed! $55, Japan Trend Shop via Nerd Approved

More craziness from Nerd Approved:

• The worst gifts ever
• 10 WTF gadgets for the home
• Blood type perfume
• 10 deliciously insane cooking gadgets
• The Slobstopper bib for adults

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

'The Finger' ear and nose trimmer

They say that you should shy away from fitness and beauty/hygiene products when shopping for Mother's Day, as it might be considered offensive. That having been said, you know better than to give your mom a finger-shaped nose and ear trimmer. Honestly: Don't give your mom The Finger. $10, Baron Bob

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Retro phone case

Okay, so your mom isn't the most technologically savvy person in the world, but you would still like to get her an iPhone and drag her kicking and screaming into the 21st century. What if you could disguise that iPhone as technology she might be more comfortable with, like an '80s-style mobile phone brick? Well, you can with this clever case. $21, iWoot

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Elvis robot

If your mom loved Elvis, you can bring him back to life in her living room with this Wowwee Alive animatronic robot. Robo Elvis tracks movement, makes occasional remarks, sings songs with realistic movements and recounts 37 monologues about his life. Just don't be surprised when all of the bacon and peanut butter in the house disappears into thin air. $85, Amazon

Courtesy of Hello Kitty Hell

Hello Kitty chainsaw

Few gifts are appreciated more than the ones you make yourself. Why, I'm sure those hideous clay cups I gave my mother as a kid are far more cherished than anything I have ever bought for her. Of course, if you go this route, it's important to make something that will not result in dismemberment. I mean, you can't just slap Hello Kitty onto just any stupid product, right? Hello Kitty Hell via Nerd Approved

More craziness from Nerd Approved:

• The worst gifts ever
• 10 WTF gadgets for the home
• Blood type perfume
• 10 deliciously insane cooking gadgets
• The Slobstopper bib for adults

Buying a gadget is beginning to resemble buying a car. You walk into a retailer and as you pull out your wallet, you are pelted with all manner of service plans, extended warranties, and other tack-ons that can double the price.

The similarity should come as no surprise. Car dealers and electronics retailers both sell products on razor thin margins. Their survival depends on finding a few suckers every day who are willing to overpay for an extended warranty.

The latest brainchild of cash-hungry electronics retailers is the guaranteed trade-in, with clever names like Best Buy’s “Future Proof Your Technology.” For a relatively small up-front fee, retailers promise to buy back the gadget at a specified price, providing consumers some measure of comfort that they won’t waste their money on ever-upgrading gadgets. The programs tap into perhaps the greatest frustration of tech consumers -- everything they buy is outdated almost immediately, meaning there is never a good time to buy. I call this the Cost of Keeping Up, or COKU, because it drives you cuckoo.  These programs are cleverly crafted to overcome this psychological obstacle to buying a gadget right now.

It must be going well. Best Buy, which launched its version of the program in January, recently announced it will expand its buy back offerings to a variety of new product categories in May.

On the surface, buy back guarantees could offer some value to consumers who perpetually like having the newest thing, much like car leases. You buy an $1,000 laptop, pay $70 extra for the buy-back plan, and in 11 1/2 months you bring it back and get $400 toward a new machine.  Sounds like you are spending $70 today to get $400 a year from now.  What could be wrong with that?

As in many financial arrangements, things are not quite what they seem. Think of this as one big mathematics equation, all gently tilted in the retailer’s favor. For example, you may end up paying sales tax three separate times on the same money if you use a buy-back program.

If you read a lawsuit that’s been filed against Best Buy by the first company to offer buy- back plans – California-based Tech Forward – you’ll get a whiff of just how systematic the effort is to separate you from your money. 

Tech Forward offers private label versions of buy-back programs for retailers like WalMart and Radio Shack. It says Best Buy copied its program after initially inviting the company to run a pilot last year. In its lawsuit, Tech Forward asserts that its main intellectual property is years of research into what the firm calls the "exercise rate,” defined as “the percentage of plan holders who actually send in their devices and qualify for a store credit.”  

In English, that means the number of consumers who pay for the program and get nothing in return.  In order for buy-back programs to be profitable, they require a certain percentage of consumers to pay for nothing.

The lawsuit also claims that Tech Forward has years of experience(PDF) and a database full of “information on how to profitably influence exercise rate behavior for specific devices.”

I’m always opposed to consumers entering into complex financial arrangements with companies, which  almost always have the upper hand. They make the rules, they often bend the rules, and you often have better things to do than send in a flurry of letters in triplicate to assert your rights. Of course, there are a few superconsumers who can play the game and win. In this case, an anal-retentive record keeper who plans on buying the latest iPad literally the moment it’s released every year for the next five years might do well in these programs. If you’re not one of those technofreaks, I highly recommend you look elsewhere.

Why? Here are a few different ways to think about buy-back programs:

As an insurance product.  Buy-back programs essentially guarantee you a resale value, meaning they act as insurance against loss of value.  As with all insurance programs, they are impossible to really evaluate until there's a substantial number of claims, and we can see how consumer-friendly the claims process is. I can tell you that Best Buy's program includes a mountain of fine print that could turn your good deal into a bad deal very quickly.  The company's provider and underwriter, Chartis Warranty Guard, reserves the right to inspect returned gadgets, something it calls “acceptance testing.”  They are then graded into one of three tiers – “good,” “poor” or “substantially impaired.”  Bring back that laptop 11 1/2 months after purchase in poor condition, and you get only $200.  Bring it back substantially impaired, and you get nothing.  On the surface, that's reasonable, of course.  But guess who makes the determination? Guess what the appeals process is?  Guess who has no leverage in the negotiation?

Tech Forward has the exact same return inspection strategy. Again, the firm might be magnanimous. Or it might not be.  If you disagree with their decision, you must take your case to binding arbitration before the Better Business Bureau – you will have no option to sue the firm, as that right is waived by signing the terms and conditions.

As a costly loyalty program.  Remember, you don't get money for your item. If you sign up for a buy-back program at a store, you get a gift card to the store. That means you won't be able to shop around for a new laptop at other places, you'll be forced to buy from Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart, or wherever you originally spent the money.  You'll be forced to pay that store’s prices, which might not be the lowest.  With items stuck in Minimum Advertised Price land, and never fluctuate in price, such as Apple's iPad, this is less of a concern. Still, it's never a good idea to give up your free agency as a consumer. What if you have a dispute and want to take your business elsewhere? Why are you paying them to be loyal? 

NOTE: It is possible to buy a buy-back program directly from Tech Forward, which will issue you a check when you make a claim – that’s an advantage.

As punishment for the detail disinclined: To get your bounty, you need to have the original receipt and all the other original stuff that came with the gadget -- power cords, manuals, etc.  If anything is missing, your gift card is reduced by the replacement cost of the missing items. If the item gets damaged in shipping, you’re on the hook. If you never quite make it to the UPS store, you’re out of luck.  For those of you that have every receipt from the past two years stored in a safe deposit box, God bless.  The rest of us mere mortals must add into the calculation of the program’s worth the odds that something will go missing before your return date. Those odds lower the value of the program.  So does timing.  Miss the 12-month cut off by one day?  You get $300 instead of $400.  Miss the 24-month anniversary by one day?  You might get nothing. Tech Forward gives users a 30-day grace period, but assesses a late fee of 20 percent of the claim amount. In other words, that $200 payout becomes a $160 payout – (and remember, you probably paid around $40 in the first place for the protection, Tech Forward’s going rate for a $1,000 laptop right now).

Just as 10 percent of so of gift cards go unredeemed, Best Buy and Tech Forward know some people will screw up and miss out on their payouts entirely. As the lawsuit shows, the firms believe they can even influence those outcomes.  That tilts the math in their favor.

Triple the sales tax, and maybe income tax -- Other surprises in the fine print might deeply reduce the value of your return.  The gadget return transaction is actually defined as a sale and a transfer of ownership in the contract.  That means sales tax might apply.  Best Buy’s contract, for example, contains this ominous provision: “All sales tax liabilities for your sale of the device (to us) are solely your responsibility.”

Sales tax rules vary by state. According to Tech Forward, California residents who sell fewer than two personal items per year can be exempt from the tax. Others have to pay.

Best Buy, in response to an inquiry from msnbc.com, said “most customers will not pay sales tax on the proceeds,” but didn’t elaborate or explain why it includes the sale tax provision in its contracts. The company did say some consumers might have to pay income tax on the buy-back benefits.

(Tech Forward did not immediately respond to a request for comment)

While the tax may vary, the only thing that can be said for certain is: You have the tax liability, and they don’t. This means it’s possible you'll be paying sales tax twice on the same transaction – once when you buy the gadget and again when you return it. And, when you use that gift card, you'll have to pay tax on any purchase you make with it, so it's hardly a stretch to say you could be triple-taxed on buy-back purchases.

To illustrate:

6/1/2011 – You buy a $1,000 laptop and pay $80 in sales tax.

5/31/2012 – You return the laptop and get a $400 gift card. You pay $32 in sales tax for that sale.

5/31/2012 – You buy another $1,000 laptop, paying $80 in sales tax -- $32 of that for using the $400 gift card. 

TOTAL -- $144 in sales tax

As a way to really confuse your mobile phone purchase – Best Buy executive George Sherman recently said that buy-back programs were most popular among cell phone buyers. It’s really hard to make the numbers make sense with most phone purchases, because they come with two-year service obligations. Fulfill that two-year contract, and you can’t get a dime back from the insurance.  Return the phone early, and any buy-back payment you receive will be reduced by the early termination fee you’d have to pay.  Again, this is calculus that most consumers shouldn’t even attempt.

As a great way to give your data to someone else – Best Buy’s contract states expressly that consumers are responsible for cleaning their data off the returned gadget. Most of us are terrible at that.  Forensic experts will tell you the only real way to accomplish a complete wipe – given that deleted data can be restored -- is to take a hammer to your hard drive. But that would void other parts of the buy-back contract.

Tech Forward says it will do its best to delete your data from gadgets you turn in: “We intend to erase all information on the device using U.S. Department of Defense-grade software overwrite, magnetic degaussing, and/or physically drilling holes in a hard drive before reselling or recycling the device,” the firm says on its website.  But of course, it shoves liability for any lost or stolen information back on the consumer.

To get lost in other fine print – Tech Forward says it will process payments as quickly as possible, but reserves the right to take 60 days to make a payment.  If you are returning a laptop computer with the intention of upgrading to a new machine – that’s the idea, after all --  you could be without a computer for two months.  That is potentially an inconvenient benefit.

As part as source of confusion at the point of sale– At the risk of repeating myself, I hate complicated, multi-layered deals. I love simple, neat transactions.  Buy a laptop computer today at Best Buy, and the salesman will hound you into buying an extended warranty, a service plan, buy-back protection and perhaps a pack of gum.  Buy the service plan, and you’ll get half-off the buy-back plan, etc., etc.  Judging by prices offered on Tech Forward’s website, Best Buy’s buy-back prices are excessive anyway.  Just don’t engage in the conversation.  Know what you’re getting for what you’re spending.  If you can’t help but consider this option, you owe it to yourself to visit TechForward’s website to get a quote for comparison purposes before you go shopping.

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USDA

Nearly 13.5 million Americans live in areas where it is hard to find healthy food and fresh produce for a reasonable price.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture calls these regions "food deserts," and it has created a new tool that uses Census data to map out these areas. The tool allows users to enter specific addresses or zoom in to get street-level mapping.

A food desert (shown in pink above) is an area where at least 500 people or 33 percent of the population have no access to a supermarket or large grocery store within one mile in urban areas or 10 miles in rural areas. About 10 percent of the 65,000 census tracts in the United States meet this definition.

The USDA hopes the tool will assist efforts to expand the availability of nutritious food in food deserts and low-income communities, which is part of first lady Michele Obama's push to address the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Getty Images

Google, we love you.

Corporate America, not so much.

An annual survey, conducted by Harris Interactive and released this week, found that Google had the best corporate reputation among a group of the 60 most visible U.S. companies.

But the same survey also found that 77 percent of people think corporate reputations in general are either “not good” or “terrible.”

The good news for corporate America: That’s down from a high of 88 percent in 2009.

Robert Fronk, the global practice lead for reputation management at Harris Interactive, said Americans tend to differentiate between the idea of corporate America as a whole – something they generally see as negative – and certain companies or industries that they like and trust.

The approximately 30,000 people surveyed gave Google the highest reputation rating, followed closely by Johnson & Johnson and 3M Company. Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm headed by Warren Buffett, was first last year and ranked fourth this year. Apple ranked fifth.

The companies with the worst reputations on the list: Chrysler, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, BP and AIG.

The annual study doesn’t cover every company in America. Instead, it first asks respondents which companies they think are most visible. Then, it takes the 60 most visible companies and asks respondents to rank them based on various aspects of their corporate reputation. That includes things like financial performance, products and services, social responsibility and leadership.

The survey was conducted between December 2010 and February 2011, before Google and Apple came under fire for reportedly gathering location information about people who use mobile devices that run on their platforms.

Fronk said it’s not clear that an individual event like that would have been enough to tarnish a company’s reputation substantially.

For example, he noted that they conducted last year’s survey at the height of publicity over Toyota’s potential safety problems, and yet the company’s reputation didn’t suffer substantially because consumers seem to be taking a wait-and-see attitude.

This year, however, Toyota fell from 20 to 43 on the list.

“Toyota’s reputation was fundamentally built on a quality product platform, and that quality product platform has eroded over the past year, which has undermined the rest of their reputational quality,” Fronk said.

Johnson & Johnson retained its high ranking despite a long string of recalls in a wide variety of its healthcare products, including the medications Benadryl, Tylenol and Rolaids.

Fronk said some consumers may not have connected the recalls to Johnson & Johnson since many are made by subsidiaries with different corporate names.

“That has absolutely worked to their advantage,” he said.

He also said consumers may be willing to forgive a corporate misstep if the company appears to be acknowledging the problems and handling them well. Still, he said Johnson & Johnson should be worried about whether they can keep their good standing going forward.

“I would certainly be concerned,” he said.

NOAH BERGER / AP

A Ford Mustang is returned to an Oakland, Calif., Hertz location.

Think $4 a gallon for gas is pricey? Apparently, you haven't rented a car lately.

National car rental chains are charging as much as $9.29 a gallon to customers who don't return their vehicle with a full tank of gas, a recent USA Today survey found.

Ouch.

The survey found that five of the eight major companies — Avis, Budget, Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty — charge customers at least $7.99 per gallon. Prices at 13 major U.S. airports are listed here.

Hertz, the most expensive, charges as much as $9.29 a gallon.

"We expect that our customers will fill their car with gas upon returning the vehicle," said Paula Rivera, a spokeswoman for Hertz. "The $9.29 a gallon price is offered as a convenience for those customers who choose not to prepay or refuel on their own."

Enterprise, Alamo and National — owned by Enterprise Holdings — charge the least. More than half of their locations charge less than $6 per gallon. The company proudly announced in 2009 that it had lowered its refueling charges to a less outrageous level.

"We remain committed to charging a reasonable fee to cover refueling costs," said Matthew Darrah, Enterprise Holdings' senior vice president of North American operations. "We urge the rest of the industry to do the same."

(Good job, but you're still charging $2 a gallon more than the nearest gas station.)

Many of the companies charge less than local gas stations when you prepay for a tank of gas, but that is only a bargain if you return the vehicle nearly empty. Renters who return cars with large quantities of fuel are not credited for it.

The best value, of course, is to fill up the tank on your own before returning the car. If you're looking for a cheap place to do this, a convenience store in Casper, Wyo., is selling regular for $3.36 a gallon, according to the Los Angeles Times. But avoid filling up in Hana on the island of Maui, where a gallon costs $6.03.

Special to TODAY

Eve Tahmincioglu, our resident career diva, joined us for a live Web chat Wednesday morning.

Here are two of her answers and a complete archive:

Carrie's question: 
I am 43 and have a secure job. But I absolutely hate working for a moron. I am a few months away from working 25 years for this company. Am I crazy for considering leaving for a job with another company?

Eve's answer: 
Hi, Carrie. Many of us have had the experience of working for morons. But leaving a job in this economy is risky. That said, I'm a big believer in not spending too much of your life in a situation you hate.

Forty-three is young, my friend! If you're in a position to leave a secure job for the unknown, go for it! Life's too short. But know you may face some economic hardships if you're not able to find a new gig.

Matt's question: 
Is it common to get a promotion without getting a raise? I have recently received two promotions -- which is great -- but because they were given before my yearly review, I haven't received a raise. 

Eve's answer: 
I call this the fake promotion. 

I can't tell you how often I'm hearing this lately and it makes me so mad. So many employers are using the economy as an excuse to work you guys to the bone -- but it's time to rise up! Go into your manager's office and lay out your case for why you should get a raise. Pronto!

Don't threaten the guy or gal, but lay out what you're doing now, how you've been successful and that you feel you should be compensated for your work.

Complete archive:

If you have a question for our TODAY Money experts, submit it here.

To sign up for an e-mail reminder for our next chat, click here.

The recession may be officially over, but one of the most worrisome effects of the weak economy remains: Tens of millions of Americans don’t have enough money for food.

More than 44 million Americans were receiving food stamps in February, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And participation in the so-called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, has increased by more than 60 percent since the recession began in December of 2007.

The Wall Street Journal has a new graphic that breaks down SNAP usage by state. According to the graphic, Mississsippi, Oregon and Tennessee have the highest percentage of food stamp usage, while Wyoming ranks lowest.

In Alabama, the state so recently devastated by a string of tornadoes, 18 percent of residents are receiving food stamps, according to the Wall Street Journal’s data. The Journal’s graphic is based on data from the USDA and the Census Bureau.

Short on cash? I know a quick and easy way you can get a short-term loan.

The catch: The interest rate is 5,000 percent.

Doesn't sound like much of bargain, but millions of Americans conduct such transactions every year with major U.S. banks in the form of overdraft fees. According to a new report by the Pew Health Group, the median checking account overdraft amount is $36, and the median overdraft penalty fee is $35 with a repayment period of seven days. That translates into the astronomically high annual percentage rate for this "service."

The Pew report gives more support to the not-so-shocking idea that America’s banks don’t really have their customers’ best interests at heart. Some highlights of the Pew report:                       

• Americans will spend an estimated $38 billion on overdraft fees this year.
• The average checking account user faces 49 different fees.
• More than 80 percent of accounts contain either binding mandatory arbitration agreements or provisions that require the customer to pay the bank's "loss, costs and expenses" in a legal dispute regardless of the outcome to the case.
• Bank customers are not provided full information about the costs of overdraft options.
• Banks do not provide policies and fee information in a concise and easy-to-understand format. The median length of checking account disclosures is 111 pages — that's twice as long as "Romeo and Juliet."
• Banks only deposit customer funds five days a week, while they withdraw funds seven days a week.

Pew reached its findings after examining more than 250 types of checking accounts offered online by the 10 largest U.S. banks. Click here for the report.

Consumers love brand names containing numbers, and marketers know it: Levi's 501s, Heinz 57, 2000 Flushes, WD-40, iPhone 4, Windows 7 and on and on.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Levi's 501 jeans succeed despite the nonfluent numbers in the brand name, says professor Dan King of the National University of Singapore.

But is there a science behind the numbers? Do certain numbers resonate better with shoppers?

We like numbers that we encounter more often and numbers that are sums and products that are more frequently generated — think smaller numbers such as 1, 2 and 3, and rounded numbers such as 10, 100 and 1,000, according to new research published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

To test these theories, researchers Dan King of the National University of Singapore and Chris Janiszewski of the University of Florida queried study participants about their preference for certain brand names. In one experiment, after viewing ads for tomato juice, participants were asked if they would prefer V8 or Campbell's tomato juice. V8 was the winner. In another, an imaginary anti-dandruft product, Zinc, was liked more when it included a common product number, say Zinc 24. Prime numbers, such as Zinc 31, tended to get the cold shoulder.

"Consumers tend to believe that they have full control over what brands (or any object in general) they like or dislike, and that they are not influenced by irrelevant factors," King said. "Although the influence of numbers is largely benign, consumers need to be aware that there are many non-conscious factors, many of which have nothing to do with the intrinsic quality of the product, that influence their liking for brands."

King plans to study next whether this phenomenon occurs in product pricing. He gives the example of Wal-Mart having some of its prices end in 88, while others end in 87. Would shoppers gravitate to the product with a higher price simply because the subconsciously like the number more?  

What do you think: Do numbers in product names really make a difference? What's your favorite numbered brand?

AP

It’s true. Journalists love to write about themselves. Not that we enjoy it of course. But this isn’t about us. This is about educating and warning young people in no uncertain terms that A CAREER IN NEWS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA.

But don’t take it from us. Take it from the good journalists at The Daily Beast, who named a degree in journalism as the most useless college degree.

Yes, even more useless than horticulture, agriculture, advertising and fashion design. And it’s that latter one that really hurts. After all, the events of the day must matter more than a hemline, unless of course it’s a royal one.

The story notes that from 2008 to 2018, the profession will lose 4,400 jobs. Fashion design is a plus-200 for the same period.

The worst part: J-majors used to love ganging up on English majors (even if it was like watching two declawed cats fake at fighting). Because a journalism degree meant you had a career path – lame as it might be – and an English major … well just planned to read a lot. But no longer. English degrees were ranked only the 20^th most useless degree.