Wal-Mart surges ahead of Exxon Mobil to the top spot of the Fortune 500 The mega-retailer didn’t have a whole lot to complain about in fiscal 2010. Profits were up and, thanks to its sales, the company once again climbed to the top of the Fortune 500. Same-store sales were about flat for the year, but compared with Target’s 2.5% decline, flat is good.

Most remarkable was Wal-Mart’s image overhaul. It helped that former CEO Lee Scott beefed up health care coverage for employees, thought more about the environment and became a public presence. Certain critics will never be placated and fiscal first-quarter results weren’t the greatest. But there’s no denying Scott left new CEO Mike Duke a company in fighting form.

I was surfing the web today and came across some interesting news about the billions of dollars being saved each year by folks doing offshore banking. Around 20 years ago I was dating a lovely girl and her brother was quite successful and one the things that helped keep him that way was offshore banking. He helped blaze the trail for it by writing a book on the subject, back then it was mostly big business doing it but now it is quite common for many small and medium sized businesses to take advantage of offshore company formation and reap the financial benefits.

So I have been putting this off for quite a while now but I can’t any longer. Deciding to buy life insurance is the easy part because everyone, especially those with families must have it. But actually starting the process is a bit intimidating. To make it easier I stated off by doing an online search and reading as many life insurance articles as possible, that way I would know all the ins-and-outs before I make my decision. The next step was to find a good way to compare life insurance policies and that really helped me make that important final decision. If you are like me you may not be too excited about the prospect of dying but don’t put off choosing a life insurance plan anymore. Make sure that your loved ones are taken care of, it is your responsibility.

Here is a round-up of some of the most popular finance news items around the world.

-By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That’s compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles. A pretty good idea but the car manufacturers won’t like it.

-General Motors has quietly dropped a marketing strategy it announced in May where it would bring other automakers’ vehicles to its Chevrolet showrooms for customers to test against its redesigned 2008 Malibu. The company was already running a similar program for its new Saturn Aura sedan - where dealers were bringing Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys into the showroom and allowing customers to inspect and test those vehicles in comparison to the Aura.

-President Bush outlined his plan Friday for helping troubled subprime borrowers keep their homes. The proposals put forward by the president included increasing the help offered by the Federal Housing Authority to troubled borrowers. That may take the form of expanding the pool of borrowers who can apply to the FHA to refinance their loans.

-Christine Lagarde, the first woman finance minister for a G-8 nation, was rated the best minister in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government last month by one of France’s top-selling newspapers. Great news, keep up the good work.

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