Happy days are here again! Or are they? After 3 years of belt tightening, American consumers began spreading their cash around again as consumer spending showed an increase of .08 percent, the largest increase in over a year. Was the new “frugality” that came to characterize the fiscal attitudes of Americans only fleeting? Or are [...]
Continue Reading →It’s difficult getting through life these days without a credit card. While many people simply take them for granted, others walk a daily tightrope in managing their credit cards where one slip could suddenly send their credit situation tumbling down. In either case, all it takes is one mistake to turn your financial dreams into [...]
Continue Reading →If credit card use is up at all these days it may be largely attributed to the popularity of the cash back rewards programs offered by most of the major card issuers. After all, if you can earn an extra $40 or $50 a month just by making your normal purchases of gas and groceries, [...]
Continue Reading →Have you ever considered using a virtual bank as opposed to a traditional bank? You may be one of the 175 million people who have become comfortable conducting their banking business online. And why worry, because with all of the security and redundant data encryption used in banking websites, you’re as safe banking online as you are [...]
Continue Reading →Teaching Kids About Money In the 2012 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey conducted during Financial Literacy Month in April, it was revealed that nearly half of adult Americans learned everything they know about finances from their parents. Considering that the same percentage graded themselves at a C or lower on their knowledge of finances, it would [...]
Continue Reading →Is cosigning a loan the best thing to do for your college grad? We all want to help our kids prepare for the future, that’s why we scrimp and save to send them to college. For parents who have weathered the college savings years and survived the college expense years, few are prepared for the [...]
Continue Reading →With the economic and political climate in the U.S. becoming increasingly stormy, the number of Americans leaving America and starting life anew in foreign lands has spiked in just the last couple of years. An estimated 5 million Americans now call Canada, or Mexico, or Costa Rica, or Thailand, or the Philippines, or several dozen other [...]
Continue Reading →For the young men and women joining our military today, with the full knowledge that they can be deployed at anytime and anywhere in the world, they must feel a sense of exhilaration while at the same time, feeling a sense of angst over the life they leave behind, albeit temporarily. Whether you have a [...]
Continue Reading →Meet Paula Pant from Afford Anything: A Journalist, World Traveler, Entrepreneur and Investor. In 2008 she quit her job and sold all her worldly possessions. For the next two-and-a-half years, she traveled to about 27 countries across the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, averaging roughly one month per country (plus a longer stint in Australia).Upon her [...]
Continue Reading →A strengthening U.S. dollar may lure many who have been putting off their overseas vacations to dust off their passports and jump on a plane or cruise ship this spring. But, you still might find that your dollars still don’t go as far as they once did, so it will be important to find every [...]
Continue Reading →Directbanc.com showcases the topic of investing in our “Asking the Experts” interview series. We asked Kyle, the personal finance blogger of AmateurAssetAllocator.com, to share his insights on investing in today’s economy. Kyle’s philosphy : “My aim is to present personal finance, investing, and economic issues simply enough for beginners to easily understand but with enough substance [...]
Continue Reading →Entrepreneurs and self-employed people devote an untold number of hours towards their business, wearing multiple hats and juggling an infinite number of tasks. For many, their business is their future security which is why they are willing to spend so much time working in it. Because of that, and the fact that most business owners [...]
Continue Reading →If any good came out of the financial crisis and the Great Recession, it’s that it made many of us become more financially literate and more aware of the need to pay attention to our finances. We now think before making purchases and we are better at prioritizing our expenditures. We certainly understand our credit [...]
Continue Reading →For the largest generation in history, retirement dreams have turned into pipe dreams as the “new normal” economy seems to be taking hold. Now crossing the retirement threshold at a rate of 10,000 per day, Baby Boomers are reassessing their retirement plans, and some are even wondering if they will ever be able to retire. [...]
Continue Reading →There’s nothing more maddening than checking your credit card rewards balance only to learn that they have expired or are about to expire before you have a reasonable chance to use them. According to a study done by Synovate, a market research firm, only a quarter of eligible cardholders redeemed points in 2010. That means [...]
Continue Reading →Do hybrid cars save money? Unquestionably, hybrid cars are a remarkable technology and no one can argue that they can’t save you money in fuel costs. But, the overriding question is whether or not they can save you money in the long run. With everyone feeling the sting of higher gas prices, the idea of hybrid [...]
Continue Reading →I have a confession to make. I’m a coupon clipper, but it hasn’t led to extreme couponing, yet. My friends and family know that I’m a proud coupon clipper, and because I’m not shy about sharing my shopping exploits, they know that I’m pretty good at it. Based on a typical family budget, I should [...]
Continue Reading →There are few things in life that bring as much angst as it does excitement than buying a car. And, in this day and age of tighter budgets the debate rages on in our heads over whether it’s better to buy a new car vs used car. We’ve all heard the argument of driving a [...]
Continue Reading →Reach your fitness goals without paying for a gym. For the first time in many years I didn’t have as one of my New Year’s resolutions to “join a gym” or to “get in shape.” For at least 15 years running, those were among my top one or two resolutions because I, like so many other [...]
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