Personal Finance

The End Is Near and So Is the Beginning

“The end is near…again!” For centuries, doomsday sayers have said it and prophesied the apocalypse. But there’s a tiny catch: Not a one of them has ever been right about any end-of-world prediction…ever. At least as far as I know, that is.

The end is near when it comes to the disaster that has been 2020. But 2021 brings a fresh start, and it's time to reboot your finances.

But if you have had any thoughts about an apocalypse happening, 2020 may have had more evidence than any other year you can remember in the past 100 years or so. A worldwide pandemic will do that to you.

But, there is some good news now. A vaccine is here and it appears that the scourge of COVID-19 will not be the cause of the end of time. True, it’s not over yet, but it will be sometime in 2021. Are you ready to resume life as you knew it?

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Cars, Insurance

What You Need to Know to Save on Car Insurance

I’m going to make my point here right at the beginning without my usual fun and games today. So straight up, here it is: There are certain things that almost everyone is forced to deal with that will cost you money and car insurance is one of the big ones. Today I’m going to talk about how to save on car insurance so you can keep more money in your wallet while still protecting yourself.

Car insurance is critical to have, but can cost a fortune. Here's how to save on car insurance while still keeping yourself protected.

During this terrible pandemic, driving has changed for many of us. Instead of driving to work in your car every day and thus risking more miles and more accidents, you are most likely not doing that. Even if you are working, you are probably doing more work from home and only venturing out driving when absolutely necessary. If you can, you’re getting things like food and prescriptions delivered to your door to avoid time behind the wheel. That is actually saving you some money.

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Home

12 Ways to Rent an Apartment for Less Money

Although I am a homeowner and have been for the past 40 years, I can still remember the days when I was a renter. While renting wasn’t so terrible, I do wish I had learned some of the things about renting that I know now that would have saved me time, money, and peace of mind. Hopefully, you can use this knowledge to save when you rent an apartment.

It's possible to get a discount when you rent an apartment, you just need to know how. Check out these 12 tips to help you save money.

Rental prices aren’t set in stone, even in highly competitive markets, so elbow grease and negotiation skills can yield hefty savings. One of the priciest cities in the country, San Francisco, today has an average price of a one-bedroom apartment of nearly $4,000 (!), so knowing a few tricks can definitely help.

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More

Giving Tuesday: How to Be Smart About Your Giving

This has been a difficult year for so many of us. Facing a terrible pandemic, many of us have been sick, or have lost someone close to us, or have lost our source of income. And now we have the holidays upon us and some of us don’t have what we need. Some families are hungry and may even be facing homelessness. It’s a time for those of us who have enough to help by giving what we can. And that brings us to this coming Tuesday: Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday is the perfect opportunity to give back to the community. With so many ways to give, these tips will ensure the best use of your donation.

We had Thanksgiving, and then for the shopping-minded we have Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. But Tuesday, December 1, 2020 is Giving Tuesday and it is a time set aside for generosity and charitable giving.

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Personal Finance

All About Banks and Why You Need One

It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? You see banks on almost every corner, shopping area, and downtown every day. Why is it amazing? Well, honestly, when was the last time you set foot inside one? Truth be told, you may need the ATM to get some cash now and then, but going inside the bank itself, almost never. Any yet, there they are, by the dozens in “every town USA”, big and small. Why so many? Let me tell you all about banks and why you need one in the 2020s.

Do you know all about banks? Here's what you need to know and why it's important to have a relationship with a financial institution.

All About Banks – An Entity You May Not Understand

One thing that hasn’t changed much is that a bank is a financial institution licensed by the government to receive deposits and make loans. Banks usually provide financial services, too, such as wealth management, currency exchange, and safe deposit boxes.

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Home

Winterizing Your Home: Prepare Now and Save

We all hear the news about climate change as well as the weird and sometimes disastrous weather patterns that seem to happen almost every day in some part of the world. It used to be cold in the winter and hot in the summer. That’s not always the case anymore and the temperatures here in New Jersey sometimes seem like they’re 60-something degrees almost all year round. I may be exaggerating, slightly, but the weather has changed. When I hear some weather guy reporting that the temperatures in September were the warmest ever recorded for the month, and that they’ve broken the record now seven out of the last seven years, we have to admit that global warming is having an effect, don’t we? But sometime that effect is bad winter storms, and you need to prepare by winterizing your home.

The seasons are changing and winterizing your home should be on your to do list. This checklist will help you prepare your home and help save you money.

That’s one reason I finally opened my wallet a few years ago and got the ball rolling on getting a new front door along with a storm door! I was finally ready (after freezing my rear end off for several years) to pull the cord and fix it. It has paid off in keeping us warmer and saving on our heating bill, enough to make me feel really foolish that I didn’t do it sooner.

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Retirement

What Are the Best and Worst States to Retire in Today?

Retirement represents the end of one’s career, but it doesn’t have to be the end of your financial security. It also doesn’t have to mean a lower quality of life. Your decision of where to retire can make a big difference. There are still several good retirement options throughout the United States and if you had to make an educated guess about where, you would probably score fairly high on this little test. You just have to know what you want and what is being offered to you and connect those dots.

When deciding where to retire, there are many factors to consider. Here are some of those considerations as well as the best and worst states.

So what are the best retirement spots in the U.S. today and why are they so good?

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Income & Career

6 Ways to Increase Your Income Despite COVID-19

For today’s guest post on how to increase your income despite COVID-19, please welcome Forrest McCall from Don’t Work Another Day.

As we surpass 9 months battling the worldwide pandemic COVID-19, for many people their finances have been under pressure at some point along the journey.

Whether you’ve faced a layoff or have increased healthcare costs, keeping your budget intact has certainly been a challenge for many.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is causing job and income loss for many, there are still ways to increase your income. Check out these six ways to earn.

In this post, I’m going to help you find alternative methods to make money and increase your income despite the worldwide pandemic.

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