According to experts, we should not spend more than 30% of our income on housing. However, for many people these days, that is an unrealistic expectation. Housing prices have been rising far faster than wages. And many people have been priced out of the neighborhoods that they have long called home. And it’s not just… Read More
Financial Security Scorecard (as reported by Mia Taylor on www.thesimpledollar.com)
The financial services provider, Primerica, created what they call a Financial Security Scorecard. The scorecard consists of five behaviors or actions that people can, and should, take in order to better secure their financial futures. The idea behind it is if people do all five things, they are more likely to grow their wealth over… Read More
Add Your Tax Refund to Your Emergency Savings (as reported by Holly Johnson on www.thesimpledollar.com)
You might hear financial advisors talking about emergency savings, sometimes referred to as a “rainy day fund”. This is money that you have safely tucked away in a bank that can be used as soon as you need it, for surprise expenses – health emergency, car repairs, etc. Unfortunately, for too many people in the… Read More
How to Improve Financial Literacy Programs (as reported by J. D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
A lot of smart people have poured countless hours and resources into financial literacy programs over the years. Whether those programs target adults or children, the goal is to increase the financial literacy, and improve the financial habits, of those they teach. However, a 2014 paper found that interventions to improve financial literacy have almost… Read More
What Qualifies as Middle Income? (as reported by Nathan Yau on flowingdata.com)
Terms like middle class, working class, and upper class – or rich and poor – or middle income, get thrown around all the time in news, online and in interpersonal communication. But often times, those terms have no shared meaning, which makes it hard to know what we are talking about. But if you are… Read More
Closing a Credit Card, Explained (as reported by J.D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
How many credit cards do you have? How many do you use? Most people, at various times throughout their lives, have more credit cards than they need. Most personal finance experts will advise you not to open too many cards, because there is a temptation to use them all and wind up deep in debt…. Read More
30% of Workers Taking 401k Withdrawals Early (as reported by Lila MacLellan on qz.com)
30% of workers in the US have withdrawn money from their 401k plan before retirement. That is the finding from a recent survey conducted by MetLife in an effort to learn more about employee benefits. That number should shock us all, considering the steep penalties that exist to keep people from taking money out of… Read More
High Costs of Pet Ownership (as reported by Lyle Daly on www.usatoday.com)
If you already own a pet, you may be very aware of how much it can cost. If you are still thinking about getting one, now is a good time to learn the truth about all of the expenses pet ownership entails. According to data from PetFinder, cats can cost as much as $2,000 per… Read More
Why is it Still So Hard to File Your Taxes? (as reported by Mathew Olson on digg.com)
Taxes are complicated. You would think that if the government wanted to make sure everyone paid their taxes, they would make it easier to file. You would also think that the internet would make it easy to file online with but a few clicks. There is a whole industry – from Turbo Tax to HR… Read More
The Cost of Free Investing (as reported by Arielle O’Shea on www.forbes.com)
The old saying goes: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” But in the day of the internet, is that still true? It seems like things that used to cost money are getting cheaper all the time, with some of them now featuring $0 price tags. Investing is one such industry that has been… Read More