This is the most common credit card balance calculation method. It credits your account from the day payment is received by the issuer. To figure the balance due, the issuer totals the beginning balance for each day in the billing period and subtracts any credits made to your account that day. While new purchases may or may not be added, depending on your plan, cash advances typically are included. The resulting daily balances are added for the billing cycle. The total is then divided by the number of days in the billing period to get the "average daily balance."

Before you transfer that hefty credit card balance to a card with a super-low introductory rate, read the fine print and ask questions. Otherwise, you could end up paying fees and a much higher interest rate than you expected.

It's better to have two cards with $5,000 credit limits than 10 cards with $1,000 credit limits.

Outstanding joint debts are one of the thorniest financial problems in a divorce. The divorce court may allocate your assets and debts, but it can't force creditors to accept the division.

You are, sad to say, part of a burgeoning industry. A recent General Accounting Office report estimates that as many as three-quarters of a million Americans fall victim to identity theft every year. And that stat is likely rather low. Some victims don't know they're being taken while others are too embarrassed to do anything about it.

It's important to only cancel credit cards with empty credit lines. If your balance is anything but zero, you'll want to keep the account open until you pay it off.

The two biggest myths people, especially students, tell themselves about their chance of having their laptops -- and their personal information -- stolen are: "It's not going to happen to me." Though everyone assumes it will happen to someone else, this is a dangerous assumption. Instead, says Yost, "Assume it's going to be stolen. If you do that, then you're going to do things from common sense: You're going to lock your doors, you're going to keep your eye on your laptop, you're not going to walk away from it." "Over 236 million data records have been exposed due to security breaches over the last three years, and schools are constantly losing laptops, and even more so, it's happening at the consumer level," says Todd Feinman, CEO of Identity Finder, a software designed to foil computer security breaches by digitally shredding a computer owner's personal information.

"A lot of students grew up not really being used to the fact that they have to keep their laptops protected. They're used to growing up in neighborhoods and leaving their laptops around, but when you get to school, these are open places where someone could just come on campus. These aren't gated communities, so it's really important that people don't just leave their computers in the library or the coffee shop. That's one of the biggest things we've seen is students losing laptops because they have a lot of trust in the people around them. They don't realize that, yeah, you can trust your friends, but someone else could just walk on campus and steal it," says Feinman.

Before you triple-lock and install security cameras in your dorm room, rest assured that protecting your laptop, and its confidential information, is easier than it sounds. Antinozzi, an expert who specializes in threat assessment and security in higher education and campuses, says protecting your laptop on a college campus begins with common sense. "Maintain the physical integrity of your laptop -- keep it close, don't lend it to anybody. We don't pay enough attention to that," he says. College is also a perfect time to start protecting your computer and personal information, says Feinman. "School prepares you for entering the business world and entering the next phase of your life. So it's really important to get into the habit of doing these things early on.

Christine Constant, whose 21-year-old daughter, Rachel, is a senior at St. Louis University, says her daughter has never had her laptop stolen, probably because she keeps track of it at all times. "When she's traveling, she takes it with her. When it's not with her, she keeps it locked inside her off-campus apartment. She always knows where it is," says Constant. "I don't really have anything that a thief would want." Think you have nothing of value on your laptop, outside of some MP3s and e-mail? "Au contraire," says Yost. "If I get your laptop, it's a treasure trove of information about you that I can use as a gateway to identity theft. Trust me, there's a lot more about you on your laptop than you realize." Odds are that your credit card numbers -- or those of your parents -- plus your bank account information, and other personal data are right there for the taking.