When shopping for electronics and big-ticket items such as cameras, TVs and other appliances, we are often faced with strong and seemingly sensible encouragement from the salesman to take out an extended warranty on the product. After all, you’re paying a lot for this advanced technological gadget - don’t you want to protect your investment?

According to Consumer Reports extended warranties are not only not necessary, they are probably money wasted. Most of the products they have tracked have not needed major repairs in the two years since they were purchased and often the cost of the extended warranty is more than paying for a repair, if one is ever needed.

Retailers advise you to take the warranties because they get a large percentage of the price of the warranty. In fact, they make more money on extended warranties than they do on the products they are selling the warranties on.

According to Consumer Reports:

For the consumer, extended warranties are notoriously bad deals because:

* Products seldom break within the extended-warranty window (typically around three years), our data show.

* When electronics and appliances do break, the repair often costs about the same as the cost of the warranty.

Read the rest of the article at Consumer Reports

Despite OPEC’s decision to cut production, the price of a barrel of oil continues to fall and so do gasoline prices. Prices have fallen even further in the last week, for a total of an average of 25 cents for the month of October.

Gas reached peaks of over $3 per gallon earlier in the year, but with gas now averaging about $2.20 per gallon nationwide, consumers are breathing a sigh of relief and their confidence in the economy shows in the market. But gas prices affect more than the general economy and decisions about long road trips.

When gas prices were rising the effects on personal finance were measurable according to Wayne Hochwarter, an associate professor of management in the College of Business at Florida State University.

Hochwarter’s study found that although the consumption of gasoline did not decrease, expenses in other areas of personal finance changed. The cost of gas forced consumers to rethink the way they spend money and at times cut back on necessities as well as non-essential expenditures.

Hochwarter also found that the stress of such worries negatively affected employees at work, leading to more job stress, lower job performance and depression.

Read about Hochwarter’s study here. Then, if you are in Oklahoma City, go fill your tank for $1.81 per gallon.