Category: Debt

Learn how to avoid debt and how to pay your existing debt down

Debt, Retirement

What About Your Retirement Debt?

So much is written about eliminating your debt, paying off your debt, and being totally debt free at any and every age in life that you may believe that it’s always the only goal you should have. Financial independence (FIRE) depends to a huge degree on not owing money to anyone or anything.

Many recommend that you reduce or eliminate your debts, especially if you're about to retire. But are there times it makes sense to keep retirement debt?

Truthfully, it’s a wonderful goal and for some people it actually can be achieved. It’s not common, but it does happen. When you owe debt, more than you can ever repay, it can ruin your life. But today’s post isn’t about that subject. There are many posts about it, so I want to look at debt from a different angle. What about debts you hold after you retire….your retirement debt?

Continue reading“What About Your Retirement Debt?”
Debt

How Do You Live a Debt Free Life?

Why do people wind up in big debt? You probably weren’t born into debt like was common back in the feudal age hundreds of years ago, so why does it seem so many wind in debt that way today?

It's possible to live a debt free life, but to do so, you need to prepare and to have the right attitude. Read on to learn how to plan to avoid debt.

These days when someone has a money problem, like when and if their car dies or they need to replace something like an air conditioning system for their home or pay off a big shopping spree that they impulsively made on their credit cards, they don’t have the money to pay for it all when the bill comes in. They really need the car fixed to get to work or the air conditioning fixed in the middle of a sweltering summer, so they end up having to purchase it on credit. Ironically sometimes that debt lasts longer than the item that they purchased! And then there is student debt, and we all have either heard about that disaster or worse, experienced it. So that raises the question, can anyone actually live a debt free life?

Continue reading“How Do You Live a Debt Free Life?”
Debt, Personal Finance, Saving & Investing

2019 Financial Resolutions You Can’t Afford to Blow

You know that you mean well. You always do, don’t you, when it comes to making new year’s resolutions. That diet you were gonna do to lose some weight, the smoking thing that you were definitely going to knock out last year for sure, and oh yeah, the garage that’s full of junk that you have been promising to clean out since 2007, but this is the year, right? You tell yourself every new year things like that and even more.

If your financial resolutions of the past never seem to materialize, perhaps it's time you made some S.M.A.R.T. goals. Here's how to make 2019 successful.

And of course there are those financial resolutions and goals that you seem to always set for yourself to do better with your money, but by the end of March you can’t even recall exactly what your goals were and where you went wrong along the way. Does that sound pretty familiar?

Continue reading“2019 Financial Resolutions You Can’t Afford to Blow”
Debt, Saving & Investing

How This Fed Rate Hike Will Hit Your Wallet

The Federal Reserve raised its key short-term interest rate this week as U.S. economic growth remains strong and unemployment is at an 18-year low. The bottom line for borrowers is this: everything from credit cards to auto loans to mortgages is about to become more expensive because of this Fed rate hike.

On Wednesday, there was another Fed rate hike, the second of four planned this year. Find out what this means for your finances and how to cope.

The Fed’s monetary policymakers added another quarter-point to the central bank’s key interest rate, putting it at 1.75% to 2%, the highest since 2008, economists said. This is the second of a now planned four interest rate increases expected for this year. The Fed last raised its benchmark rate a quarter-point in March, moving it into the range of 1.5% to 1.75%. You’re going to feel this one right away.Continue reading“How This Fed Rate Hike Will Hit Your Wallet”

Cars, Debt, Food, Home, Personal Finance

Concentrate on the Big Three Expenses of Your Budget

Have you ever gotten through the month and breathed a sigh of relief because there was still a little bit of money left in your bank account? It’s a great feeling but sometimes it almost feels like a mystery. How did I do that? Why was this month such a good one compared to most others? Most of us are used to feeling stressed out because most of the time our money is tight.

When you're trying to get free from debt, little things matter, but concentrating on the big three expenses of your budget is the way to go. Here are the steps to take to eliminate debt from your life.

As ridiculous as this might sound, when I look at my monthly scorecard of what I spend and what my income was compared to my budget, I think about it like it is my NFL season record. You know, when I come in under my expense budget I feel like that’s a win and when I don’t it’s like a loss. I’d really love to have a 12-0 season, but frankly that hasn’t happened…yet.Continue reading“Concentrate on the Big Three Expenses of Your Budget”

Debt

Student Loan Repayment: 13 Ways Millennials Can Deal with Debt

In 2017, Americans are more burdened by student loan debt than ever. You’ve probably heard the statistics: Americans owe over $1.45 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 44 million borrowers. That’s about $620 billion more than the total U.S. credit card debt! In fact, the average Class of 2016 graduate had $37,172 in student loan debt, up six percent from 2015. That translates to an average student loan payment of $372 a month for 10 years. Even if you yourself aren’t dealing with student loan repayment, someone is and that someone may just be your child. Either way it’s a big weight to carry.

Student loan repayment has become a significant financial burden for millennials. Here are 13 ways to reduce that burden and pay off student loans faster.

One thing we can all agree on: paying off student loan debt isn’t any fun. One of the worst feelings is tearing open your paycheck or seeing your direct deposit hit your bank account and getting really excited, only to remember that you need to use a huge chunk of that money to make a payment on your student loans. If you are thinking things will be improving soon, I have some really bad news for you. They’re probably not.Continue reading“Student Loan Repayment: 13 Ways Millennials Can Deal with Debt”

Credit, Debt

How to Eliminate Debt, Minimize Debt and Save Money

This is a paid post written by me on behalf of Discover Personal Loans. All opinions are my own.

The accumulation of debt is something that all of us try to minimize in our financial lives. While most of us may be pretty smart about managing our money, many of us have debt and are paying it off at a higher interest rate every month than we need to be, instead of saving.

If you have existing debt(s), a personal loan might be a solution for you. It can allow you to consolidate your debts and save money on interest.

 

In fact, household credit card debt today is over $750 billion in total. There are many reasons for accumulating debt. The most common use revolving debt; credit cards and medical expenses, which can frequently be due to an unexpected situation. To be financially successful, first try to avoid taking on more debt than you can handle. Second if you already have debt, create a plan to pay it off. For example, if you’re someone who has debt from spending outside your budget, find ways to pay off your debt and to reduce and eliminate your excess spending. Become more familiar with the “why” you acquire more debt and possibly fall behind in your monthly bill payments and then you’ll be able to find a solution to pay it off. Ultimately, taking these steps could lead to finding the best ways for you to avoid unwanted debt, and only having debt that helps you reach your goals, like a mortgage you can afford or loan that helps you consolidate debt and pay it down faster.Continue reading“How to Eliminate Debt, Minimize Debt and Save Money”

Debt, Personal Finance

Why Are You Spending More Than You Make?

There is no escaping the fact that Americans like “BIG” from the Big Mac to the Big House and Big Car. We either have, wanted to have, or work towards having those things as our goals in life. Because of that single fact, Americans spend and spend their money and, oh yeah, it’s money they may not even have! Today, as consumers, we acquire more than double of what we did about 50 years ago in material goods.  That translates to an average retail credit card debt per household in the USA today of over $8,000 per family. This begs the question: why are you spending more than you make?

Are you spending more than you make? We all have that tendency and here are 7 reasons why we are triggered to spend, spend, spend.

I have to laugh a little now talking about this subject. After all, I’m no different than you. I think I used to be obsessed with bigger is better and more, more, more just like most of us have over the years at one time or another. We seem to have that idea in our brains almost from birth. It continues to find ways into our lives all the time, for example just last month, McDonalds introduced a bunch of new Bigger and Better (I guess only time will tell if they are actually better) big sandwiches that border on the ridiculous! In fact, they’re big and also budget-bustlingly big. It’s certainly not uncommon these days to see prices at fast foodies as high as $7-$8 each.Continue reading“Why Are You Spending More Than You Make?”