For many years, all liability for fraudulent transactions has been assumed by credit card companies. However, the global numbers for credit card fraud have continued to grow, and major credit card companies have been working on a solution to the problem.

Visa, MasterCard and EuroPay are some of the biggest companies in the industry. After spending nearly a decade working on a solution, these major companies have decided to move consumers away from using magnetic strip cards and towards EMV.

Americans endured what was known as one the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s in 2008. The housing market boomed and then crashed – everything else went along with it. The job market was brutal, and wages simply were not competing with the rapid inflation of those times. And even though the actual recession is technically over, we are still recovering from the damage that the recession has done 7 years ago. Even more, we have seen that the stock market in the past couple of days has shown dramatic drops.

Everywhere you look today, people are using their mobile devices to make and accept payments. From the coffee shop to the taxi stand, the wine bar to the tire place, tiny swipe-and-go devices are replacing the traditional cash register.

But is this sudden reliance on all things mobile for transmitting the most sensitive data premature? How can you keep your identity safe, your customers' identities safe and your company safe while still keeping up with the latest technology? Here are five tips to consider as you decide when, where, how, and how much to make the switch.

If you have student loan debt, could it hinder your chances of retiring the way you want to or retiring at all? The answer to that question depends on what type of debt you have, how much student debt that you have and what your retirement timeline is. In some cases, cosigning on a student loan could have an impact on the length and quality of your retirement.