Budgeting

We talk a lot about not overspending during the holidays—but that’s hard to control if you don’t really know what you can afford to spend in the first place. Here are five guidelines that can help you avoid moving into the overspending zone.   Your spending shouldn’t require use of …

    Tell me if any of these statements sound like things you’ve said or thoughts you’ve had recently:   I’ll opt into the 401(k) after my next raise. I’ll start contributing to an IRA once I make more. Sure, I’ve got a little debt now, but eventually I’ll be …

Three Ways to Start Saving for Retirement This Month Earlier in the month we celebrated National Save for Retirement Week. That means it’s a good week to touch on the kinds of concerns faced by people who are two or more decades away from retiring. Why? Well, because they have a …

The Pros and Cons of Term and Permanent Insurance   One of the biggest decisions you make when you finally start shopping for life insurance policies is deciding between a term and a permanent policy. Neither of these policies is objectively better than the other. They each have pros and …

Every year, the holidays threaten to ruin your budget and sink you further into debt while pulling you farther from your savings goals. This year, there are some steps you can take to make sure your spending stays in check.   Review Last Year’s Spending   There are two things …

  In almost every adult’s life there comes a point when they consider opening a joint bank account. Whether they want to open the account with a parent, sibling, roommate, friend or significant other, they might decide this is a good idea for paying joint bills, saving joint funds and …

At the time this blog post was written, gas prices had dropped significantly and were expected to fall even further. This is an event worth celebrating, for sure, but it can also be the perfect springboard toward a bigger savings account balance. However, in order to allow lower gas prices …

Much of what we know about past cultures is thanks to the efforts of archaeologists. By discovering historic artifacts and studying them, these scientists can reconstruct a prior culture’s entire way of life and give us tremendous insights into the civilization’s values and priorities. While it may seem impossible, archaeologists …

According to a 2014 report by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, 21.3 million people are spending more than the recommended 30 percent of income on rent. Twenty-six percent of these people are spending more than 50 percent of their income just to keep the rented roof over their heads. …

The money you spend is money that can’t be used to pay off debt or increase savings, so it stands to reason that spending less is one of the most important steps you can take to improve your overall financial situation. Here are five simple changes you can make to …