Category: Debt

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

Debt, Personal Finance, Saving & Investing

The Fed’s March 3rd Surprise Interest Rate Cut

You are probably one of the millions of Americans who are concerned about the COVID-19 coronavirus and you are trying to best deal with all the news about it and the risk it imposes. We all are.

With worries about the coronavirus affecting our economy, a new Fed rate cut is meant to stimulate growth, but how will that affect consumers?

Besides the huge health risks, the world economy is dealing with the potential impact the virus is having on it. To help our economy withstand the threat from the rapidly spreading and scary coronavirus, the Federal Reserve sliced interest rates by the largest amount since 2008. While many financial experts feel that a Fed rate cut may not have any impact on what’s happening, it’s a big move that might have impact on the credit cards in your wallet, the rates you pay for a home loan or a refinanced mortgage, and many other borrowing costs, too. Whether it encourages the consumer to keep buying as they have been for the past several years during this medical crisis is another thing completely.

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Debt, Frugality, Saving & Investing

Why Do You Diss All Those Valuable Pennies?

Chances are if you look around your house, your car, or any of your pockets, you will find a penny or three. Those little pennies really don’t get much respect in today’s world, do they? After all when you shop, if you start to dole them out at the cash register you might get some kind of dirty look like “What are you doing…just give them a damn nickel! Don’t look for the pennies!” Or after you pay with your cash you dump the two pennies you get in change into a little tip jar or charity collection (or is it?) on the counter.

Do you dismiss the value of pennies? Whether you're paying off debt or saving up money, pennies can be more powerful than you think.

Those orphan pennies are so small and insignificant, right? They seem to be more of a nuisance than anything of real value, and when you have them around you usually just ignore them. Why do you diss all these pennies?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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”