Another real world example of being careful with your money. I keep getting offers for free access to stock information and like a sucker I keep thinking this is the one that is going to give me the “drop dead” stock tip I hope for (yes, I should know better, but I have this dream of money raining down on me for no good reason).

Motley Fool sent me one of these such offers (now this is not a shot at our amigoes at the Fool, they do a good job, just an example of what you get yourself into, if you aren’t diligent). I signed up for their “hidden gems” newsletter for 2 months for free, however, I had to give them my credit card. I thought I had cancelled this newsletter in PLENTY of time, but my credit card statement appeared and there was a $200 (US) charge on it, from the Motley Fool! Now I had “fool-ishly” (pardon the bad pun) sent my cancellation e-mail to the wrong place, and after 2 phone calls, all was cleared up, but it showed me you have to be careful with this kind of stuff. If you give someone your credit card number, ASSUME THEY WILL USE IT!