Online tools
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The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent Work and Money section that I think is often overlooked by those seeking financial help. One particularly great story involves a comprehensive listing of free online financial tools.
These tools do everything from finding cheap gas to help you plan for retirement. However, the more sophisticated the analysis, the greater chance of error. If you’re planning for retirement and plug unrealistic assumptions into the tool, it won’t be smart enough to say “you’re an idiot”. It will just return the amount based upon the data you put in.
Out of their recommendations, my favorites are:
The Financial Planning Toolkit from CCH - This one they actually didn’t highlight, but mentioned at the bottom. We use CCH at work and it’s a fantastic product. They’ve made a lot of their tools available to anyone for free. These will help with major aspects of financial planning.
Salary.com - Find out what you are worth by comparing your salary to people in similar positions in your area. A good way to figure out if you are really underpaid, or just feel that way.
Gas Buddy - I don’t use this as much many other people do because of our frequent use of gas cards. But, if you aren’t linked to a particular brand, this is a great tool to help you find the cheapest gas.