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POULTNEY, Vt. (AP) — A college student in Vermont is living in a 96-square-foot house he built to reduce his carbon footprint — and save money.

I will never forget the moment that my soon-to-be ex-husband and I sat in our mediator’s office as he illustrated our finances on a chalkboard. “There really aren’t any assets,” he told us. But there was $4 million of debt—from bad investments, lawsuits and failed business deals that I knew nothing about.

It was a half hour from closing on a cold Christmas Eve, and the last few customers were milling around inside the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Springfield, Mo., when a man approached the register

No one likes paying legal fees, but tax deductions can make them a lot less painful. With a 40% tax rate, $10,000 in deductible legal fees costs you only $6,000. But if your legal fees are to get divorced or because a family member sues you for slander, the legal fees are purely personal and non-deductible. See How To Make Divorce Less Taxing. Distinguish purely personal expenses from investment expenses.

American consumers have shown about as much appetite for the $1 coin as kids do their spinach. They may not know what's best for them either. Congressional auditors say doing away with dollar bills entirely and replacing them with dollar coins could save taxpayers some $4.4 billion over the next 30 years.

A Missouri man posing as "Secret Santa" is giving away $100,000 this holiday season and spent a day in New Jersey and New York giving away money to people robbed of their belongings or homes by Superstorm Sandy.

If your passport is gathering dust and your suitcase desperately needs a workout, don't throw away thoughts of a thrilling vacation just because your wallet doesn't match your wanderlust.

A Las Vegas cab driver proves how honest he is after he returned a bag containing more than $200,000.

My husband and I recently refinanced our mortgage, and the bank sent us our credit scores during the process. Both scores were good, but my husband’s was 30 points higher than mine. This puzzled me, because we share the same spending and bill-payment practices.

In a recent blog post, my colleague, Nancy Anderson, writes about “Three Common Estate Planning Mistakes That You Can Easily Avoid.” It’s not surprising that these mistakes are so common since in my experience, estate planning is the area with the most widespread confusion and unfortunately, this confusion can lead to those very mistakes, costing so much in time, money, and stress to people’s families.