Smart business owners know that now is the time to check spending habits at the door. They increase spending on sales and customer retention and decrease spending on unnecessary bills. Many businesses still haven't taken a look at where the most wasteful spending occurs: the phone bill.

According to Aberdeen Group, a telecommunications research company, 90% of telecom invoices contain billing errors. These errors vary from taxing inaccuracies to inactive services that are still being billed.

By now it's no surprise that there are scams on the Internet. Everything from magical pills to offers of instant wealth fill e-mail inboxes. But every scam might not be obvious at first glance.

Phishing is the act of illegally obtaining personal information through e-mails that appear to be real. These e-mails might contain an official logo or an image from the company's Web site. But in reality it is a phony e-mail from a hacker who is interested in "catching" personal information (hence the term phishing!).

With warmer weather in the forecast, it can be very easy to put off one of the most important spring tasks: filing taxes. Even though the April 15 deadline is quickly approaching, many Missourians still have not filed taxes. Taxpayers can be at ease, however, because the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offers a convenient electronic-filing (e-filing) option online to help those with time constraints.