Those of you who read my posts frequently know that, when necessary, I have no problem naming names and going after specific companies that I think consumers and investors need to avoid. That is precisely what I'm going to do today. My brother is a junior in college and frequently receives offers in the mail for credit cards and other "financial services" (which reminds me of the old joke about military intelligence). Yesterday, he received a catalog from a company called Peach Direct (bad name, bad company), which boasts the slogan "Making Luxury Affordable."

Well who doesn't want affordable luxury? Surely I do. So I opened the catalog and began browsing the offers. Among the "deals" available are Gucci sunglasses for $10 per month, a 50" DLP Wide-screen HDTV for $48 per month, and an Xbox 360 for $14 per month. But my personal favorite is, by far this gem: Quicken 2007 Deluxe for $10 per month. Ladies and gentlemen, take it from me: If you don't have the $49.99 in cash that it takes to buy your own personal finance software, you probably don't need it. One of the savviest financial decisions you could make in that situation would be to not buy the software on installment, paying the 23.99% APR my brother was "pre-approved" for -- which is sort of like being pre-approved to take a vow of poverty. What's second prize? Fifty shares of Enron stock?