Big banks only roll out totally new credit cards every couple of years (typically in an effort to win new customers from competitors by offering some kind of improvement on their rewards). Capital One has done just that with its new Capital One Venture Card, a $59-annual fee credit card that pays double miles on purchases and lets users redeem rewards on any travel-related purchase.

So is the Captial One Venture Card something to get excited about? If you play the credit card points/miles/cash back game and travel is your choosen reward, perhaps. (And a friendly reminder, if you don’t pay off your credit card balance(s) in full every single month, don’t bother with a rewards card…you probably won’t come out ahead).

In general, Capital One cards are becoming popular with travelers for two reasons:

• Simple Rewards: Many users say Capital One’s miles rewards programs have been living up to the card company’s “no hassles” tagline.
• No Foreign Currency Fees: Capital One cards are among the only cards that do not charge foreign currency transaction fees and they have pledged to continue this practice even as other issuers raise fees. Becuase that could save you between two and four percent on any overseas purchases, some would say Capital One cards are among the best credit cards for international travel.

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Perhaps you heard it from your parents, some guy you know who “really has it together” or maybe you’ve read it on a blog like this one. Regardless of where you got the advice: You know that it’s never too early to start saving for retirement. That means if you have a steady job, you should start to save for retirement. But how? We get more questions about retirement savings—including 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts—than any other topic. And no wonder: It seems complicated, it’s boring as hell and, at the end of the day, retirement seems like a long way off when you’re in your twenties.

No matter. You can learn how to start saving for retirement in the five minutes it will take you to read this article, and you can probably start doing it in less than an hour. So if you know that you should start saving for retirement but have no idea where to start, roll up your sleeves, brush off your fear and let’s get started. [...]

Online savings accounts are a critical tool—especially for young savers—to set aside savings in an insured account while earning better interest rates than at their local bank. This page examines the best online savings account rates and is updated monthly or when rates change. For a more detailed comparison of our most recommended online savings accounts, read: high yield savings accounts compared. [...]

At one point or another, it’s happened to nearly all of us: For one reason or another, we spent more than our available checking account balance. And most likely, we wound up paying an overdraft fee for the privilege. In years prior to the day I “smartened up” financially, I probably gave my credit union several hundred dollars in overdraft fees because I was frequently either carless, broke, or both.

Needless to say, in the years since then, learning to balance my checkbook and save financial reserves has saved me untold amounts of money. If you want to do the same, it’s important to understand why overdraft protection exists and how it works.

And that’s never been more important than today, because the way banks handle overdraft protection features (and the accompanying fees) is changing. [...]

We first published “How Much House Can You Afford” over a year ago, but we’ve been getting a lot of questions about the subject recently. In fact, we’ve also been getting a lot of people asking why they haven’t been approved for a mortgage. In many cases, we simply have to tell them that they’re trying to buy too much house. The easy solution is to know how much house you can afford before you apply for a mortgage.

Buying your first home is one of the most important and exciting financial milestones of your life. But before you hit the streets with a realtor, you need to have a good sense of a realistic budget. Just how much house can you afford? You can determine how much house you can afford by following three simple rules or percentages of your monthly income. [...]

Want to save thousands on your taxes? Consider buying a home. Without a doubt, the home mortgage interest deduction is a major perk of home ownership: the mortgage interest you pay on your home reduces your taxable income. The first-year interest payments on a $180,000 30-year fixed rate home loan at 5.01 percent add up to almost $9,000. That’s a lot of interest paid, but it’s also a huge tax deduction.

If you’re getting ready to buy your first home or are a new homeowner, here’s what you need to know—in plain English—about the home mortgage interest deduction. [...]

Pop quiz: Do you know how much cash you have in all of your bank accounts, right now? How long would you take to determine how much you spent on groceries and how much you contributed to your IRA last year?

Stumped? You might stand to learn how to organize your finances better. I know I could. Still, I don’t want to waste countless hours scrutinizing every receipt. I want to “set it and forget it”. I want a system that eliminates work and creates powerful peace-of-mind. So I created a plan to organize my finances in the simplest way I could devise; hopefully it helps you organize your finances, too. It comes down to three simple steps: Consolidate, Automate and Document. [...]

Shopping for a mortgage can be intimidating. There are thousands of mortgage lenders and hundreds of ways lenders can tweak home loans to distort their real costs. You’re also facing the excitement of buying a new home and you may feel vulnerable as lenders nit-pick your credit report. It’s understandable that many home buyers get stuck with bad mortgages because they just wanted to get the process over with. Unfortunately, that’s no small mistake: On a 30-year mortgage, fractions of a rate point can add up to tens of thousands of dollars.

Want to avoid a similar fate? It’s all about knowing how to shop for a mortgage. [...]

The CARD Act—a set of new regulations designed to limit credit card trickery—went into effect this week even though Congress proposed the act over a year ago. Since then, there’s been a lot of talk about what this all means for people like you and me.

And it’s not all good.

Without prying into painful details, here’s a 60-second run-down of what you need to know about the CARD Act. [...]

Last week, a long-time reader e-mailed a superb question: If you must choose, should you save first for retirement or save for a down payment on your first home?

Obviously, both are important. The younger you are when you start contributing to a 401(k) or IRA, the longer compounding interest will work its magic. At the same time, many of us want to own a home before we turn a certain age, get married, or have kids. And if we’re able, the money-savvy among us would like to buy our home with a substantial down payment (ideally 20 percent).

That’s no small goal.

But can you save for both retirement and a down payment at the same time? And, if you must choose, which should be your priority? The answer is, of course, complicated, and depends on some individual financial factors. But, in general, save for retirement first. [...]