You may have heard the term “predatory loan” before. But do you know what it means? A predatory loan is any loan where the terms are more beneficial to the lender than the borrower. For example, they may have very high interest rates or unreasonable expectations regarding the payback schedule. And even though there are… Read More
What Does it Take to Be Wealthy in America? (as reported by Suzanne Woolley on www.bloomberg.com)
Charles Schwab runs an annual survey to calculate their Modern Wealth Index. Essentially, they ask people to define what it takes to be wealthy in America. Answers regarding how wealthy people spend their time and how they live their life are included. Those surveyed are also asked how much money it takes to be financially… Read More
Millennials Can’t Afford To Buy a Home (as reported by Miranda Marquit on www.moneyning.com)
It’s been frequently reported of late that millennials, those born roughly between ’78 and ’95, are not buying homes at the same rate as previous generations. And there has been much debate offered as to the reasons for that. A new study by Bank of America finds that, counter to the popular wisdom behind this… Read More
Personal Finance Manifesto (as reported by Allison Schrager on www.qz.com)
Rich people have always been able to afford to pay for the best financial advice available. That is part of the reason why they stay rich and the rest of us struggle to get by. But even without expensive advisors, lawyers and accountants, there is some simple financial advice we can all take advantage of…. Read More
Do You Have Too Much Cash? (as reported by Maurie Backman on money.cnn.com)
You may be surprised to hear it, but there is such a thing as too much cash. Now let me backtrack for a second, because most of you are already sounding the alarms on this post. The keyword in that first sentence is “cash”. Notice I didn’t say money. Cash, as opposed to investments, doesn’t… Read More
Personal Finance Rules (as reported by J. D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
Rules of thumb are meant to stand as simple shortcuts for far larger, and more complex, processes and practices. The world of personal finance is rife with them. There are so many that, often, they conflict. When that happens, where do we turn? Who do we believe? Enter J. D. Roth, writing from his blog… Read More
Raiding Your Retirement Savings (as reported by Allison Schrager on www.qz.com)
A 401k, pension account, or IRA are all built to help people save for retirement. However, what about saving for emergencies or other needs that crop up earlier in life. Often, those retirement savings can’t help you, because if you withdraw from them early, you are left to pay expensive penalties. That leads to a… Read More
Personal Savings Rates (as reported by Trent Hamm on www.thesimpledollar.com)
Your personal savings rate is an important financial metric to track. Calculating it is simple. To do so, you need to know two things: How much money you added to long-term savings last year How much money you earned after taxes last year We use long term savings to differentiate from money you put in… Read More
6 Stages of Financial Freedom (as reported by J. D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
How close you are to achieving your financial goals depends a lot on what those goals are. For most of us, just having enough money to pay the bills each month is a step in the right direction. But if you don’t know where you currently stand, or don’t have any plans for how you’re… Read More
Track Your Net Worth (as reported by Trent Hamm on www.thesimpledollar.com)
Your net worth, the combined value of all your assets (car, home, checking accounts, investments, etc.) is something that many people keep track of. And for good reason. This represents the total amount of wealth that you have accumulated over the course of your lifetime. And if managed correctly, you can see this value begin… Read More