3 Personal Finance Tips for Choosing a Credit Card
3 Personal Finance Tips for Choosing a Credit Card With all the credit card offers you receive in the mail, it can be difficult to tell the differences among them, let alone choose the one that’s best for you. However, there are real differences between…
Top 7 Myths About Personal Finance Management
Top 7 Myths About Personal Finance Management Whether the market is humming along or dropping like a rock, you still have to make personal financial decisions about saving, investing, borrowing and your everyday living expenses. With all the misinformation, self-proclaimed financial gurus and myths in…
College Savings Plans and Funds: Know Your Options
Personal Finance Tips for Starting a College Fund Saving for college can be daunting, with just one year of tuition costing well into the five figures. You can start saving as soon as your child is born. The sooner you start contributing, the sooner you…
Financing Your Wheels: How Much Should I Budget for a Down Payment on a Car?
Financing Your Wheels: How Much Should I Budget for a Down Payment on a Car? A new car will lose a huge amount of its value the minute you drive it off of the sales lot. Typically, depreciation in the first year is between 20…
Personal Finance Planning: Creating and Protecting an Emergency Fund
Personal Finance Planning: Creating and Protecting an Emergency Fund Life is full of surprises, many of which come with adverse financial consequences. Whether it’s your car breaking down, your child getting sick or you losing your job, one of the fastest ways to pile up…
Financial Overhaul: How Do I Get Mortgage Modifications After Losing a Job?
Financial Overhaul: How Do I Get Mortgage Modifications After Losing a Job? The economic misery that began with the 2007-2008 housing market meltdown has taken a heavy toll on millions of Americans. Housing prices are only now beginning to recover from large losses and unemployment…
Car Shopping? Budget Tips for Buying or Leasing a Car
Before you start shopping around for a car, either to lease or buy, you need to know your budget. And keep this in mind: “A car is transportation,” notes Jim Blankenship, a certified financial planner practicing in New Berlin, Illinois. “It won’t make you money, and it won’t make you better looking or more popular. It’s a practical purchase only if you’re getting value for your money. The value provided by a car is mobility.”
Plastic, Not Always So Fantastic: How Closed Accounts Affect Your Credit
Plastic, Not Always So Fantastic: How Closed Accounts Affect Your Credit Your negative credit card history won’t disappear any faster if you cancel the card. If your credit report contains some negative information from your credit cards, you can’t magically erase it by canceling the…
Finances 101: 5 Ways to Avoid Credit Card Debt
Create a Workable Budget The first step in managing your finances is knowing how much money you have coming in and how much is going out. A workable budget is about as close to a monetary crystal ball as you’re likely to find. Your budget…
Personal Finances 101: Tips for Establishing Good Credit
Paying off your credit card each month goes a long way toward building good credit. If you want to take advantage of the low interest rates on home and car loans, or the special perks for the best credit cards, you usually need to have…