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Next time you’re thinking about how much you hate where you work, just be thankful your job didn’t make AOL Money’s worst jobs in America list. What really surprised me about the top 10 list was that being a model ranked as the number 8 worst job over number 9 dishwashers. According to them, the concentration of bad jobs in the modeling industry is a startling 79.2%:

Unless you’re a top model or work on “The Price Is Right,” your chances of raking in the cash are nil.

Also making the list were movie theater projectionist, tour guide and lifeguard. So next time you start complaining, thank your lucky stars you have an office job. Being a model and making $11.22 an hour doesn’t sound all that glamorous to me!

Who would have suspected that the richest person in the world would be from a third-world country? Hailing from India, Mukesh Ambani is the world’s newest richest person. Mukesh is worth an estimated $63.2 billion and recently edged out Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helu. He’s just about to finish building his brand new BILLION dollar home! With a billion dollar lead over number 2 Carlos and number 3 Bill Gates, Mukesh sits comfortably on top of the top richest list…for now. Who knows long he’ll stay at the top of the list, with their sizeable stock portfolios a good day could send any one of the top 3 to the number 1 spot in a day.

foXnomad writes:

Protect your credit card information by using an unactivated credit card for authentication. Many places such as hotels will use your credit card as a second means of identification.

Credit cards are not swiped for any financial transaction, but may be photo or carbon copied to protect the owner in case you destroy something or decide to jet.

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Effective June 24th, Verizon will add a $0.15 per minute surcharge for calls made to Mexico. The increase results from a recent switch to a calling party pays system in Mexico. This would mean that for a 10-minute call to Mexico you would pay $1.50 just for the surcharge, not to mention the per minute international calling rate. If you make a lot of calls to Mexico, The Consumerist suggest that this may be a justifiable reason to get out of your contract without paying early termination fees.

foXnoMad writes:

If you plan to travel from city to city extensively check out the Eurail Global Pass which lets you travel in 18 European countries for any 10-15 days within a 2-3 month period. Prices will run you about $700 for unlimited travel.

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Prior to any purchase, check the Freecycle to see if that fax machine you need is being given away by someone for free. Freecycle is a grassroots and 100% non-profit that lets you give away and pick up items you no longer want. Things that might be hard to sell (like CRT computer monitors) can be found in good condition.

Don’t let the term “free” lead you to believe only crap items are up for grabs. Many items are fairly new and if you check often you can locate someone in your area who is giving something you want away.

You can also sign up yourself on their homepage and give away something you don’t or can’t sell. It’s better than junking old computer parts right away and polluting some corner of the Earth. Besides, who knows, perhaps someone will return the favor.

Polat Productions write: The Polat Productions editors are competing in the Hoops for the Homeless 3-on-3 basketball tournament. We’ve already contributed $1,000 to the cause. Over 12,000 people in the Washington DC metro area are homeless, and 25% of them are children. Please come out and cheer us on, on June 9 at the Verizon Center. Tickets are only 5$ and all of the proceeds go to this worthy charity. You can also donate directly an amount you feel like giving by clicking the (secure) donation link below: read the rest >>

Using SkypeOut through your computer you can make unlimited calls to the U.S and Canada for $29.95. SkypeOut also has low international rates, with a nominal connection fee of $.0405 from the U.S.

Credit card balance transfers can save you a lot of money in interest charges if you pick the right offer. Competing credit card companies want your business, so much so that many will pay off the debt on your current card and give you an interest-free period (often called a grace period) to pay off the balance. It is important to carefully read the terms and conditions of all offers as some credit cards will charge you a one-time fee, often 3% of the balance, to transfer the debt to their card. If you are unsure if you will be able to pay off the debt within the grace period, you should pick a credit card with a lower interest rate. If you have $5000 in debt on your current credit card with an annual percentage rate of 18%, switching to a credit card with 0% interest for 12 months and no balance transfer fees will save you $900 in interest charges if you can pay it off in the 12 months.

When you sign up for a Cingular cell phone plan, they charge you $2.99 a month for roadside assistance through a third party named Asurion Insurance Services whether you want it or not. The terms and conditions of the roadside assistance program are confusing and make it seem as if you have to subscribe for this service even though they automatically add it to your contract. If you do not want or need this service, call Cingular at 1 866 CINGULAR and speak to a customer service representative to have roadside assistance removed from your plan. Both Cingular and Verizon are facing legal action for charging their customers for this service without their consent.

Cingular also funds spyware and charges customers for switching to paperless billing. Since cell companies frequently change their contract with you (again, without your consent) you can easily get out of them.