When it comes to credit cards, getting a "reward" can actually be a setback if you don't get the right benefits or use them wisely. Over at the Dumb Little Man blog, J.W. Corbett from card comparison website Creditor Web offers some great advice on how to actually benefit from rewards-based cards. He kicks off his eight-point list with a doozie:About 95% of all rewards cards offer the exact same reward; 1% cash back. They each package it differently such as airline miles, points, cash, hotel discounts, etc., but the truth is a "point" or "mile" is generally worth 1 cent. In the end all the rewards still end up being the equivalent of about 1% cash.Corbett's other tips include reminders to pay off the card's balance every month and plan how to use the rewards money. How did you choose your rewards card? Leave your own suggestions in the comments.
After just four weeks of their public beta, financial management web site Mint is already boasting over 50,000 members and managing over $2 billion of their money, and early next week Mint is launching several new features intended to improve its already impressive all-in-one money management tool. There's no question that this snazzy web application deserves of much of its hype, but is it ready for your money?
A Word on Security
As soon as any web-based financial software like Mint is mentioned, the security watchdogs among us pounce on the comments to let the rest of us know that we should
I'm not quite as cynical or concerned about my security with Mint, especially after having read 
Receive Low Balance, Due Bills, High Spending, and Other Alerts 
Drill Into Your Spending Trends
Transactions Overview
Add New Accounts to Mint
Get an Overview of All Your Accounts at a Glance
Edit Your Accounts
Set a Budget for Any Spending CategoryThe Savings
Mint takes a look at your bills, spending, and credit cards, then suggests ways you can save money through different offers. In fact, Mint makes its money through these referrals. Some of them are sponsored deals through Mint partners and some are not, but Mint will always suggest the best offer first.
Likewise, Mint can save you money with the 
The most notable and practical drawback to Mint came in the form of strangely named, incomplete transaction descriptions (the imported name was strange—the actual transaction name at the originating financial institution was more descriptive). As a result, I ran into problems setting up renaming rules for transactions in Mint. For example, a transaction that read in my checking account (at the actual US Bank web site) as "Web Authorized Payment AT&T" showed up in Mint as "Web Payment" or something along those lines. I set Mint to automatically rename this transaction to AT&T, but then every Web Authorized Payment in my account was renamed AT&T, although some were gas or water and power bills. Similarly, "Purchase with PIN" shows up in the ledger as "With," which is not terribly helpful. Next to the all-in-one account integration, automation is Mint's biggest draw—which means these sort of minor issues need worked out before you can set up renaming rules with complete confidence (especially since you can't currently undo renaming rules). On the flip side, Mint claims to accurately identify and rename 90% of imported transactions without any need for user import, compared to Quicken's 40% (their numbers).