Accessibility links
Your Money NPR coverage of personal finance, money, investing, taxes, retirement, mortgages and housing markets, wealth management, and stock market news. Download NPR podcasts and RSS feeds.

Your Money

Friday

National

Forget Bake Sales: Schools Turn To Luxe Auctions

Cash-strapped schools across the country are staging swanky events to auction off everything from weeklong Italian vacations to an unwashed Lance Armstrong jersey, which sold for $110,000. "Probably the strangest thing," says one auction organizer, "was the vasectomy for you and your cat."

Forget Bake Sales: Schools Turn To Luxe Auctions

Listen · 5:53
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135836634/136119276" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Economy

Wall Street Responds To Bernanke Press Conference

Melissa Block speaks with floor trader Ted Weisberg, president of Seaport Securities, about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's press conference Wednesday — and Wall Street reactions to it.

Wall Street Responds To Bernanke Press Conference

Listen · 4:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135778753/135779003" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Americans Increasingly Reliant On Government Aid

In 2010, more than 18 percent of the nation's total personal income came from entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, unemployment benefits and other programs, according to an analysis by USA Today. Wages made up the lowest share since government tracking began in 1929.

Americans Increasingly Reliant On Government Aid

Listen · 30:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135773235/135773226" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Business

Facebook Joins Crowded Online Coupon Field

Facebook announced Tuesday it is jumping into the online coupon field already occupied by Groupon, LivingSocial and many others. Facebook will only offer social deals – things you wouldn't normally do alone like river rafting.

Facebook Joins Crowded Online Coupon Field

Listen · 5:36
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135757618/135760768" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Business

Expert 'Coupon Diva' Shares Tricks Of The Trade

Joyce House is thrifty. The self-proclaimed "Miss Coupon Diva" has raised her children and pursued a nursing degree �" pinching pennies all along the way. She says she has not spent her own money on toothpaste, deodorant and other essentials for more than three decades. And, of course, the diva finds discounts and deals on groceries too. For this week's Money Coach segment host Michel Martin speaks with "Miss Coupon Diva," Joyce House, about how to use coupons efficiently and where to find the best deals.

Expert 'Coupon Diva' Shares Tricks Of The Trade

Listen · 7:27
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135735931/135735916" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Does A Higher Minimum Wage Kill Jobs?

Job seekers lined up at McDonald's restaurants nationwide last week, hoping to fill one of the fast-food chain's 50,000 openings during a one-day nationwide hiring event. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Economy

Does A Higher Minimum Wage Kill Jobs?

Labor advocates say raising the minimum wage stimulates consumer spending. Problem is, with the unemployment rate still at 8.8 percent, elected officials don't want to do anything that might discourage job creation.

Does A Higher Minimum Wage Kill Jobs?

Listen · 3:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135638370/135678899" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

The Cycle Of Fear Over Rising Gas Prices

Headlines this week screamed about rising gas prices — as they have many times before. In the past 15 years, Dick Polman, national political writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, estimates he's covered spiking gas prices a dozen times. The story, he tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer, almost always has the same narrative arc.

The Cycle Of Fear Over Rising Gas Prices

Listen · 2:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135663177/135663171" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Gas Prices: Lessons From The Carter Years

Gas prices in April in Washington, D.C. reach $5 a gallon. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Gas Prices: Lessons From The Carter Years

In response to the rising cost of home heating oil, President Jimmy Carter suggested Americans wear a sweater and turn down the thermostat. That message, political consultant Tad Devine says, did not go over well. What plays better, he says, is empathy — the path President Obama seems to be taking.

Gas Prices: Lessons From The Carter Years

Listen · 5:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135640221/135663173" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Gas Prices Pinch, And The President Feels The Pain

President Barack Obama waves from Air Force One before taking off from Reno, Nev., Thursday. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Economy

Gas Prices Pinch, And The President Feels The Pain

It doesn't take much prompting to get Obama started on the subject of gas prices. The president is quick to talk about the challenges American drivers face, but he's offering little in the way of short-term relief.

Gas Prices Pinch, And The President Feels The Pain

Listen · 3:50
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135639552/135663172" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Navigating The Budget Maze, Without Getting Lost
iStockphoto.com

The Federal Budget Crunch

Navigating The Budget Maze, Without Getting Lost

The budget proposals from President Obama and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan are filled with claims about reducing deficits, spurring economic growth and cutting spending. But they're often not particularly reliable or well-founded. Experts explain how to read the numbers to find out what's really going on.

Navigating The Budget Maze, Without Getting Lost

Listen · 4:11
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135632482/135640269" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Late-Shift Worker's Lament: 'It's Killing Me'

Many businesses no longer shut down at dusk — and workers often face a sleep deficit as they fit into different shifts. Here, a Chinese broker sleeps on her desk at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. China Photos/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
China Photos/Getty Images

Opinion

Late-Shift Worker's Lament: 'It's Killing Me'

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 15 percent of Americans do shift work. A request on NPR's Facebook page for people to share their stories of working on the night shift brought more than 2,000 responses.

Late-Shift Worker's Lament: 'It's Killing Me'

Listen · 2:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135611138/135624711" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

National

Why Prices Are So High At One D.C. Gas Station

There's a service station near Georgetown in Washington, D.C., where regular gas has been selling at a whopping $4.99 a gallon. You might expect to pay more in a posh part of town — and especially on a street right next to a highway. But here's the strange thing: There's another service station on the same street where gas sells for about 80 cents less.

Why Prices Are So High At One D.C. Gas Station

Listen · 3:16
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135610168/135610667" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Tuesday

National

Avoiding Foreclosure A Maze For Many Homeowners

In 2008, the Obama administration enacted the Home Affordable Modification Program to help assist some of the millions of Americans on the brink of losing their homes. But the law has helped fewer troubled homeowners than envisioned, leaving many struggling to save their homes from foreclosure.

Avoiding Foreclosure A Maze For Many Homeowners

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/135546457/135546447" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript