Money Research

Why it's OK for me to like Starbucks
Although I only go there once or twice a month because MONEY

 

Starbucks (SBUX)  Sure, it's easy to see this coffee king as a symbol of all that's wrong with corporate America. Satirical newspaper The Onion once joked that the stores were so ubiquitous, a new Starbucks was being opened in the restroom of an existing Starbucks.

All jokes aside, the company has been a model employer and partner with suppliers. Any employee who works just 20 hours per week is given health-care coverage. During the economic downturn, the company spent more money on this benefit annually than it did on all the coffee it bought. Starbucks has spearheaded the move for fair-trade coffee as well. It is the world's largest purchaser of fair-trade coffee, and it often pays above market value to its producers in developing countries.

And this past year, CEO Howard Schultz launched a drive to kick-start American job growth. In the program dubbed "Create Jobs for USA," the company collects donations from customers. All of the donations are poured into a fund that facilitates micro-loans to spur small-business job growth.

via 5 Companies Americans Can Be Proud Of 

I need to call Northern Trust
They're probably taking my money unnecessarily...

So how do you cut this cost, and keep more of your money for yourself? Actually, that's not too hard.

Most funds are "actively managed" by managers who pick and choose stocks for their funds, and the fees for these services add up to about 0.93 percent on average -- again, year after year, every year. Putting your 401(k) money in passive "index" funds, which simply and automatically track the returns of major stock market indexes, can cost as little as 0.14 percent per fund -- less than one-fifth the average cost.

via 401(k) Fees Are Robbing You Blind


...both stories from DailyFinance a site I may start turning to for money learnings...
All in quest to conquer my distaste for money (greed).