money

A solid education is important for kids. But while you’re busy making sure their reading and math skills are up to par, don’t forget to teach them about money, too — it could keep them from falling into bad habits later on.

The holidays may be over, but chances are you’ve got a constant reminder: a gift card. Gift cards are always a popular choice for holiday gifts, so you’d think more of them would actually be redeemed — but experts believe at least $2 billion worth of the cards given last year will never see a cash register. So what happens to all that money?

If you ever have a secret you’re dying to spill but you want it to stay safe, we suggest telling Kathleen Crewe. She can probably be trusted with it — after all, she won a $7 million lottery and kept it to herself for days.

If you are living with a severe disability, it could be taking up the majority of your household income. A study from the University of Salamanca in Spain found 90 percent of the population who live with a serious disability in the country of Spain is suffering from moderate poverty, and 56 percent live in extreme poverty.

If you have a new credit card, chances are good you’re paying more for the privilege now than ever before — interest rates have reached an almost unparallelled high.

In a head-snapping about-face, Verizon Wireless has dropped the $2 monthly fee it planned to impose on some of its customers.

On Monday, the deadline passed for an unknown $77 million lottery winner in Georgia to claim the prize. Unbelievable as that may have been, officials in Iowa had a similar situation — days before the deadline, a Hot Lotto ticket worth $16.5 million was still unaccounted for. But no more. In a squeaker of epic proportions, an attorney for the unnamed winner stepped forward with the valuable little

If you listen closely, you’ll hear the collective screams of a lot of Verizon Wireless customers — the company has announced that starting next month, it will impose a $2 fee on anyone who pays a monthly bill using a credit or debit card online or by phone.