The gray Kara is even going away and being replaced with a color Kara!

If you have the blog on an RSS feed, you’ll need to update the link once the migration is complete. Find the new and improved design at www.startribune.com/kablog.

You’ll also need to be a registered member of the Star Tribune site to comment. I hope you’ll jump through this hoop to keep the conversation going.

Thanks for your patience while the new, improved Ka-Blog! is in motion.

Apparently, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said this morning that the program will continue through the weekend. President Obama is expected to speak on the economy at 12:15 central time. I’m curious to see if he addresses CARS.

Maybe I’m glad I didn’t qualify after all. I wouldn’t want to set foot inside a dealer right now with all of the hub bub.

But I’m a reporter and I’m about to head to a dealership to assess the scene so you don’t have to. Oh the sacrifice!

Check back to learn if the possibility of new money caused a new flood of people into the dealerships or a flood of angry participants waiting for approval. Or maybe all I’ll see are bleary-eyed employees who’ve spent hours inputting data for the program while tearing their hair out. We’ll see…

Update: The scene at Inver Grove Heights’ auto dealers varied from dealership to dealership. Some were full of customers who rushed in to take advantage of the program before the rumored cut-off. Other showrooms were slow, as if confused car-buyers seeking clarity were staying away.

The assignment did give me the opportunity to peek inside of a Ford Flex. The verdict? I think I’ve been converted to the totally unsexy, totally uncool but oh-so-practical and comfy minivan. Sliding doors rock!

To recap. The car has a lot of problems, but it still runs. And it does not qualify for Cash for Clunkers. And its trade-in or charitable value is laughable.

I thought writing the column would help me to retire the household topic of whether we should buy a car now (answer: No) .  But all of this cash for clunker talk makes me envious.

Part of me wants to join the new car party. I know it’s expensive. I know my car can run longer. I know I can buy used. But buying a new car would help the economy. There are good deals out there. And frankly, we can afford it if we want to, Cash for Clunkers or not. It’s all a matter of priorities.

Our 2003 Ford Windstar with 93,000 miles on it does qualify for the program. The $3,500 government dough plus a $1,500 cash rebate and a discount I get because my father used to work for Ford would equal a pretty good deal on the Ford Flex, the grocery getter I think we’d buy to haul around the three kids and the pop-up camper. I’m all for fuel efficiency, but  you try fitting three car seats in a Focus.

So I played around on the Ford web site and got a quote. Picked up the phone to call Mr. Kablog. His response? “$20,000 is $20,000.”

How true.

Yes, it’s a good time to buy a car. But cars are expensive, even if you qualify for the rebates and incentives.

In the next weeks as Cash for Clunkers is in the news, I’ll try to think of Jason each time I have the urge to head to the dealer’s lot. He sent me the following email:

My clunker is a 1999 Grand Caravan. It has 140,000 miles on it. The value is $2,000 because it is in poor condition – lots of body rust. The Caravan is list at 18 MPG so I would qualify for the $4,500 cash for clunkers incentive.

Originally I wanted use the cash for clunkers to get a small high MPG car. However after much consideration I decided not to.

The Caravan should last another two years (another 15,000 to 20,000 miles). Based on the current economic situation and uncertain job market I decided to wait until the car dies and tow it to the junk yard.

Readers, any of you planning on taking advantage of CARS? If so, what made you pull the trigger? Any trouble finding a vehicle?

If you are considering a new car, check out this tip sheet from Americans Well-Informed on Auto Retailing Economics.

I’ll keep you posted on my car-waffling. As you know, it’s often the behavioral/psychological aspects of finance that trip us up. And my heart might just overrule my head on this one.

The family is heading on a two-week camping trip with our shared new/used pop-up camper.  We’ll spend a couple hundred bucks on gas and a couple hundred more on camp sites, with plenty of money left over for beer, cheese and brats.

To make this a true vacation, I don’t think I’ll tweet every penny I spend. Then again, it might be a fun way for me to say hello from the road. I’ll decide in the next couple of days.

Until then, wish me luck packing and I’ll be back to Ka-blogging on Monday, July 27.

The hour-long programs cover everything from investing to insurance to kids and money.

The first one, held Aug. 7th, is “Money 101: Knowing the Basics.”

“We want attendees to take something away from the sessions that helps them tackle these issues at home. As an industry we have done a poor job of helping consumers increase their financial knowledge,” NAPFA National Chair Diahann W. Lassus, CFP®, CPA/PFS, said.

I agree. I also think the industry does a lousy job reaching lower and middle-class families. These webinars, which will be archived if you can’t listen live, are a start.

I’m sure the series is also designed to improve public relations. Can anyone say Bernie Madoff? Three former NAPFA members have also been nailed by the SEC for various wrongdoings such as accepting kickbacks for putting clients in inappropriate investments. Lassus wrote in a letter responding to the incidents that he feared that the organization was “lulled into complacency” over the years. I’m guessing the leaders did their due diligence when selecting the webinar presenters.

Well, you’re certainly not alone, which is why The University of Minnesota Parent Program, University of Minnesota Extension Service (which has lots of good financial resources on its site, btw) and the Department of Family Social Science partnered to create an online seminar for parents about college finance. 

“If parents are well informed, they can help their children make thoughtful and responsible decisions when it comes to managing their finances,” said Jodi Dworkin, associate professor and extension specialist in the department of family social science at the U of M. Dworkin co-authored the seminar with Marjorie Savage, director of the University of Minnesota Parent Program, who wrote the book “You’re On Your Own (But I’m Here If You Need Me) Mentoring Your Child During the College Years.”

It’s definitely worth a look if you’d like to learn more about how to communicate with your child about money, are concerned about whether you’ll be able to identify problem gambling or overspending, or you just want to make you’ve covered your bases when having money talks with Junior.

And if you’re a parent with advice to share, comment below.

Some readers responded that their reward program has not changed. So I went to Chase and here’s what I learned from spokeswoman Tanya Madison:

Because of the volume of Chase Freedom customers, we have staggered implementation of the changes that you reference. Most customers will have received notification of the changes and will have had their Chase Freedom credit cards updated with the changes by the end of the year.

 So there you have it!

Any time you learn of changes to your credit card terms, be sure to let me know.

The hope it that near-retirees with bigger paychecks will leave and schools won’t have to lay off younger, (read: cheaper) employees. Although as a younger employee with decades of work ahead of her, I’m sure my counterparts in the higher education field appreciate it!

Frankly, I’d be surprised if many employees, especially professors protected by tenure, would leap at the opportunity given the economy and the stock market’s performance of late. But if the pot is sweetened enough….

What would it take for you to retire early by choice? What types of benefits would you need? Could you swing it financially? And aside from money, would you even want to leave your job if you think you could live to 90?

I’ve contacted Best Buy for a comparison of the new and old terms and did not receive a response.

Best Buy certainly isn’t the first and I bet it won’t be the last credit card company to pare back rewards this year.

So which cards are still the best rewards cards out there?

Not my Chase Freedom card. It changed its reward terms - for the worse, in my opinion - on June 30. (NOTE: Some readers say that their rewards program with this card has not changed. I’ve contacted Chase for details about the change and I learned that all cards will eventually change to the new program).

I used to earn 3 percent cash back in the three out of 15 every day categories where I’d spend the most money each month. I also earned 1 percent cash back on all other purchases. Also, for every $200 in rewards I earn, I would get a $50 bonus.

Now, the $50 bonus is  gone and my purchases earn just 1 percent cash back. So Chase Freedom is now a pretty typical run-of-the-mill cash back credit card.

Chase says the card will feature certain spending categories where I’ll earn 3 percent for limited periods, but I haven’t noticed this yet. Even when they do launch that feature, it’s just a less generous version of the Discover Get More program, which gives 5 percent cash back on selected categories (although Discover is less generous with every day spending. You have to spend $3,000 with Discover before the 1 percent reward kicks in; before that you earn a measly .25 percent on purchases).

Chase Freedom isn’t my everyday card, so I’m not too broken up by the changes. But at a time when credit cards are changing terms not only on rewards, but also on how a card accrues interest, it it critical to read any disclosures that come your way.

My most used cards?

I like Discover’s 5 percent cash back program and use my card whenever I can take advantage of that deal. Otherwise, the American Express Costco True Earnings card and Citi Drivers Edge Mastercard are my primary cards. The Drivers Edge card, with 3 percent back on groceries, gas and drugstores and 1 percent on everything else, is no longer offered.

But if I were in the market for a new card, I’d probably take a look at both the Fidelity Rewards American Express Card and the Schwab Invest First Visa. Both reward spending with a 2 percent cash rebate into a Fidelity or Schwab account.

According to the calculator on Fidelity’s web site, $12,000 in purchases per year on your Rewards Card amounts to a $240 cash reward. Invested each year at 4 percent for 10 years and your rewards could grow to $2,916.

That’s not too shabby, even if you project you’ll earn less than 4 percent in interest.

Did I miss a great rewards credit card? If so, do share below.

Thanks to all of you who headed over to www.twitter.com/kablog to follow me. I’m still tweeting everything I spend with the exception of my regular fixed expenses. How many times does someone want to read:Mortgage $977 or Student loan $96.65?But if you want me to continue tweeting those expenses, let me know and I will.

While gone, I missed having the blog, especially when the urge struck to write something complicated, like the  explainer  on student loan changes from today’s paper.  Can’t do that in 140 characters!

In the weeks to come, I’ll write about car-shopping, credit card changes, savings and debt payoff.

But being a little sleep-deprived and new to juggling three, I’m hoping you’ll make my job easier.

What are the personal finance issues your family is facing? Any money matters or financial trends you’re seeing or reading about that drive you nuts? Questions about investing that you don’t want to pay an adviser to answer?  Know any inspiring folks who got out of debt? Live next to the most frugal family known to man?  Hankering to be a guest blogger for Ka-Blog?

I hope so!. Email kara.mcguire@startribune.com or comment on this blog post. Some of my best ideas come from nuggets delivered by readers like you.

It’s good to be back.