It’s amazing what social media has done to the landscape of the Internet. Nowadays, surfing the web just feels, to quote the Black Eyed Peas, “so 2008.” Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have now become the quickest way to receive personalized information. And that info doesn’t have to be just sports scores and celebrity gossip, but practically anything that could be of value - including personal finance. From stock market advice to credit card ratings, there’s a wealth of good money information on Facebook. You just need to know who to “like”.

As the smoke from the NFL lockout begins to clear, we can finally rest assured that the coming sports year will be full of labor peace and exciting games. Oh wait, it turns out that just as one pro sports lockout gets resolved, another one (and by all accounts a much lengthier one) is just getting started in the NBA. Yes indeed, all we can look forward to this year in the pro basketball world is exciting shots of lawyers in pressed suits walking into conference rooms, with nary a slam dunk in sight. And with all this bickering from both sides, it’s time to have a nice little reality check just to remind us how lucrative the sports industry really is. While the average American spends their time finding ways to reduce credit card debt with 0% interest credit cards, athletes and owners are complaining over how to divvy up their billion dollar industries. So which athletes should never have to worry about missing any paychecks? Here's a list of the top ten wealthiest athletes in America.

The U.S. Mint has closed a loophole that allowed owners of credit cards with airline miles to rack up free fares— without spending any money. Credit card users across the country are smacking their heads and asking themselves why they didn’t think of that earlier. In an effort to spread $1 coins into circulation, the U.S. Mint had been offering what it thought was a zero-sum deal to consumers: the ability for citizens to purchase large quantities of $1 coins at face value.  In other words, you charge $5,000 on your credit card, and a few days later $5,000-worth of $1 coins would arrive on your doorstep.

As credit card lenders battle to regain the top spot in our wallets, we're seeing an onslaught of awesome credit card deals offering incentives like huge signup bonuses and newly revamped rewards programs.  However, there is one credit card perk that, at least for me, stands out from the rest—the almighty no annual fee.

No Annual Fee Credit Cards

The importance of no annual fee credit cards is fairly straight forward. While other credit card rewards can be complex and confusing, freeing yourself from a big annual fee benefits everyone in the same two ways: