According to a survey by personal finance website NerdWallet, Midwesterners are the ones most embarrassed to admit they have credit card debt, but they are the least likely to have it. On the other hand, Southerners have the highest debt-to-income ratios in the country and the lowest average credit scores. Overall the the average American household owes $15,355 in credit card debt. (nerdwallet.com)
Why you should skip Valentine’s Day
David Adams writes: “After spending over 15 years between accounting and financial planning, and helping advise nearly 2,000 families, I’m convicted that it’s the small things that contribute so much to meeting long term financial goals. Saving $100 on one meal, or one holiday like Valentine’s Day, starts to add up over a 20 year plus time frame. Then you factor in investing that money saved, and you start to see momentum, which leads to increased confidence and excitement towards seeing the ability to reach you goals.” Here are three ways to make this Valentine’s Day as the start of your financial freedom:
- Marketers know that as females you are expecting a gift, prove them wrong.
- Money can’t buy love, but handmade gifts can.
- Instead of spending money, discuss money.
5 Fears About Frugality That Are Wrong
It’s a human nature to keep the old habits even though frugality like cutting back on unnecessary spending can save us some big bucks. After all, $100 a month saved from frugality is the same as $100 a month earning from working. An article posted on Simple Dollar shows 5 reasons why people fear frugality and why those reasons are wrong. Here are the 5 fears about frugality that are wrong:
- Fear #1 – I will have to give up all of this stuff I like
- Fear #2 – It’s a lot of extra work
- Fear #3 – You don’t save much money anyway
- Fear #4 – I don’t want to live like a weirdo
- Fear #5 – The store brand is terrible
Claim Your Tax Refund ASAP to Thwart Identity Theft to Thwart Identity Theft
Yearly, $5.8 billion in fraudulent refunds was claimed by crooks using stolen Social Security numbers. IRS has tried to beef up the security and some states even require residents to wait longer to receive their tax refunds. On Kiplinger, Sandra Block has a good advice to prevent fraudulent refunds: “Your best defense is to file your tax return as soon as possible. That won’t stop crooks who have stolen your Social Security number from filing a fraudulent return, but they can’t hijack a refund you’ve already claimed.” (kiplinger.com)
5 Investing Essentials That Newlyweds Must Know
Congrats on your special day! As you begin your journey together, you should talk about money. Here are 5 things every newlyweds should know from Wise Bread: “Confidence is not the same as skill. You probably have different comfort levels with risk. Your best first investment may have nothing to do with the stock market. You have some control. The future arrives faster than you can imagine.” (wisebread.com)
Learn to Manage Finances as a Couple
The top two reasons why couples fight are sex and money. Well, you can avoid one of them by learning how happy couples manage finances from a guest post on The White Coat Investor. To maintain a financially happy relationship you need to create financial roadmap, define roles and responsibilities, and manage money together. Other strategies include transparency in dealing with money, communication with each other, time as the most precious resource and total money control. (whitecoatinvestor.com)
Panic Pushes Gold Buying to Highest Level Since Financial Crisis
The one thing that’s certain in the the stock market is that it’s always uncertain. Since the start of 2016 the majority of global stock markets have had a nightmare. The panic in stock market triggers gold buying spree that pushes gold buying to the highest level since financial crisis. To shelter from the volatility, nervous investors have been rushing into gold funds. The cycle of panic in financial market will continue. For individual investors that accept the uncertainty in stock market, they can relax since that’s reality in life. (telegraph.co.uk)
Accepting the Uncertainty in Our Financial Life
A study by Michel J. Dugas, Patrick Gosselin, and Robert Ladouceur observers about uncertainty and worry: “Considering that daily life is fraught with uncertain situations, individuals who are intolerant of uncertainty may perceive several ‘unacceptable and disturbing’ events in the course of a single day.” If you’re watching CNBC or Fox Business, you will hear all the news about the market downturn. That fear can induces investors to make hasty decisions based on the feeling of uncertainty even though it’s a bad idea. To accept the uncertainty in our our financial life, Carl Richards on The New York Times says: “We can build a portfolio that matches our goals. We can own lots of different kinds of investments, with the knowledge that most of the time, they won’t all fall sharply at once. We can keep the costs of those investments down. But after we’ve nailed down all those things, there’s still going to be uncertainty in the air. The sooner we can accept that the better. That’s life. That’s reality.” (nytimes.com)
How to Easily Avoid Lifestyle Creep
Did you just receive a promotion and a pay raise? Have you paid off your mortgage or student loan? Then you need to beware of the lifestyle creep as your discretionary income rises. You will have more money to eat out, splurge on necessities, upgrade to a better car or buy a bigger house. Here’s how to easily avoid lifestyle creep: Stay on budget, pay off debt, fund college savings for your children and max out retirement accounts. (castlebaram.com)
99 Cent Gas On the Way?
According to GasBuddy, more than 50 Oklahoma stations already sell gas for under $1.15 per gallon. Some station even sell gas at $1.11 and we might see 99 cent gas on the way. The national price for an average gallon of gas is still at $1.72. But the International Energy Agency (IEA) report that global oil demand growth is considerably stalling out due to slowdowns in Europe, China and the United States. AAA experts also agree that in the near term gas prices are likely to remain close to their lowest price point since the Great Recession. (247wallst.com)
Introducing “Guides to Start a Blog” on Personal Finance News
Personal Finance News is built upon a rich community of personal finance bloggers. We feature user-submitted stories about personal finance news of the day. The more personal finance bloggers the better our community are. If you are thinking about starting a blog, here are some excellent guides by other personal finance bloggers to help you starting your own blog. Once you have set up your website and start blogging, please feel free to submit news to us with a short summary so we can share the stories to help more people about personal finance. If you don’t own a personal finance blog, you can still submit news to us whenever you stumble upon an interesting personal finance news. (Guides to Start a Blog)
Use This Calculator to See If You Can Afford Life After College
Los Angeles-based Weintraub & Selth launched an interactive tool to help you estimate if you can afford to live in the desired city after college using the average starting salary for your selected major, average tuition, student loan costs, and the average living expenses for your desired city. The cost of living estimator is a rough guide to let parents and and students thinking about the cost of college that could help avoiding bankruptcy after college. (marketwatch.com)
Man Arrested For Throwing A Live Alligator Into Wendy’s Drive-Thru Window
When one is hungry, he can do some crazy thing. That’s what happened when a Florida man got arrested for allegedly throwing a live alligator into Wendy’s drive-thru window in Royal Palm Beach. “Officials say 23-year-old Joshua James pulled up for his order and after a server handed over a drink and turned around James reached into the back of his truck and tossed the 3-and-a-half foot gator through the drive-thru window.” The alligator later got its freedom back in a nearby canal. (wptv.com)
Finances Are Preventing Almost Half of Non-Homeowners from Buying Homes
As homeownership rate drops to 63.4%, lowest since 1967, Bankrate reports that almost half of non-homeowners say their financial situation stands in their way of purchasing a home. The reasons are that 29% of respondents say they can’t afford a down payment and 16% of respondents say that their credit isn’t good enough to qualify for a mortgage. “Hispanics were the ethnic group most likely to report that their credit is holding them back from homeownership, while the most-cited reason among blacks and whites was they just don’t want to own a home yet.” (bankrate.com)
Politics and Investing Don’t Mix
Mike Piper, a personal finance blogger at Oblivious Investor, warns investors about “the exploitation of a person’s political views in order to instill fear and, ultimately, sell undesirable financial products. The pitch goes something like this: [Political event X] just happened or is likely to happen. As a result, the economy will take a nosedive. You should buy my product to protect yourself.” The technique is so popular that no matter if you are Democrat or Republican, it can be used to trick you to buy the financial products such as gold, annuity, active funds or market-timing newsletter. (obliviousinvestor.com)
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- …
- 62
- Next Page »