Brad Tuttle

Brad Tuttle covers personal finance, consumer issues, and assorted nonsense for Money.com. He is a longtime contributor to the Business section of Time.com, was an editor at Wondertime and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazines, and teaches part-time in the journalism department at UMass-Amherst. He lives with his wife and four sons in western Massachusetts.

Recent Articles

America's Shopping Cart

To some extent, Americans are what they buy. Consumption trends--what people purchase more of, and what they suddenly stop buying--reveal a lot about what's happening in U.S. culture. Here are four products experiencing a recent...

By Brad Tuttle

Why McDonald's Is Loving the Creepy New Mascot Everybody's Bashing

McDonald's doesn't seem to mind that the masses have taken to Twitter to bash the new mascot, Happy, as creepy, even terrifying. The social media reaction probably makes McDonald's, well, pretty happy. The introduction of...

By Brad Tuttle

This is the Worst Weekend for Road Trips

Road rage, clogged highways, traffic tickets, oh my! Is it too late to cancel your Memorial Day weekend road trip? Memorial Day weekend is here, and naturally, you want to hit the road to celebrate....

By Brad Tuttle

Only Suckers Abide by Food Expiration Dates

Date labels on food were created with consumer safety in mind. But some of the labels result in confusion—and tons of perfectly safe food tossed out for no good reason. We hear regularly that Americans...

By Brad Tuttle

The Incredibly Simple Way to Get Drivers to Buy Fuel Efficient Cars

The secret lies in making it crystal clear how much they'll save in gas costs over the long haul. In every car dealership, a new vehicle for sale is required to have an EPA car...

By Brad Tuttle

Most People Say They Could Get Rid of Tons of Stuff and Still Be Happy

Deep in your heart of hearts, you probably know you could unload the majority of your possessions without getting too upset. Could you get rid of most of your stuff and still be happy? The...

By Brad Tuttle

Free Cone Day, Free Ice Cream at Haagen-Dazs Tuesday May 13

Free Cone Day is back at Haagen-Dazs, with free scoops being dished out at hundreds of shops starting at 4 p.m. today. Haagen-Dazs is celebrating Free Cone Day on Tuesday, May 13, when no fewer...

By Brad Tuttle

One of Life's Annoying Regular Expenses Is Getting Cheaper

Prices are on the rise for everything from meat to limes, from rent to Netflix. But one of life's commonplace expenses is surprisingly on the decline. According to AAA, the average cost of owning and...

By Brad Tuttle

6 Mother's Day Factoids to Show You're Not a Horrible, Ungrateful Son or Daughter

In advance of your Mother's Day plans (or lack thereof) not going over well today, here's some ammunition for making the case that you—and your mom—could have done a lot worse. Moms get more love...

By Brad Tuttle

3 Next-Gen Plug-In Cars That Could be Game Changers

The biggest complaints about electric cars are that they're too expensive or have limited driving range, or that don't have enough space for hauling gear or a family. In one way or another, all of...

By Brad Tuttle

Airline Relaunches Brand to Tell Passengers Not to Expect Much

After routinely getting bashed in consumer surveys, Spirit Airlines is overhauling its brand to better explain its prices and policies. The gist is that travelers should lower their expectations. Spirit Airlines refers to itself as...

By Brad Tuttle

Between Airline Fees and Travelers, Bags are a Battlefield

The Department of Transportation reported that U.S. airline companies brought in $3.35 billion in baggage fees last year, yet that healthy revenue stream has continued to drop as travelers have gotten better at figuring out ways to avoid paying baggage fees

By Brad Tuttle

Better Fuel Efficiency Is Hurting the Most Efficient Cars of All

Why aren't sales higher for electric vehicles and hybrid plug-ins? A big reason has to do with the technology that EVs are supposed to replace, the internal combustion engine. Last year, Nissan Leaf sales more...

By Brad Tuttle

Could It Be? Gas Prices May Have Already Peaked for 2014

We're still weeks away from Memorial Day and the peak travel days of summer. But it looks like gas prices mercifully won't go much higher in 2014. The commonly held theory is that gas prices...

By Brad Tuttle

Grab That Apartment Before the Rent Spikes

In strong-growth markets like Charlotte, landlords are adopting dynamic pricing strategies similar to the airlines and Amazon.com—meaning the asking rent price for apartments can change by hundreds of dollars in the blink of an eye....

By Brad Tuttle

Fastest-Growing Alcoholic Beverage Category? It's Not Craft Beer

Craft beer's growth in the U.S. has been amazing, rising from 11.5 million barrels brewed in 2011 to over 15 million barrels in 2013. Over that same time span, however, production of another traditional American...

By Brad Tuttle

As Hated Airline Fees Spread, the Original Fee-Crazed Carrier Changes Course

Frontier Airlines is following the low-fare, fee-heavy "charge for everything" lead set by Spirit Airlines. Is it inevitable more airlines will do the same? On Monday, Denver-based Frontier Airlines announced that it would start charging...

By Brad Tuttle

Favorite Summer Toy of the Rich Is Getting Downsized

Is it safe to go back in the water, so to speak, of boat ownership? Boat sellers are attempting to win over cautious consumers with cheaper, smaller models. There are plenty of phrases about boat...

By Brad Tuttle

Free Pretzels! Hot Giveaway on Saturday to Celebrate National Pretzel Day

There's still more than a month's wait until the arrival of Free Donut Day. So for now the free pretzels served up hot and salty on Saturday will have to suffice. National Pretzel Day might...

By Brad Tuttle

6 Insulting Terms for Adults Who Live With Their Parents

More often than not, the phrases coined to describe the rising ranks of grown adults living with their parents are subtle backhanded insults. And sometimes the insults aren't subtle at all. Here are a handful...

By Brad Tuttle
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