Debt

How to Decide Which Debts to Pay Off First

Today’s guest post on paying off debts is sponsored by Credello.

If you have multiple debts you’re trying to pay off, you might feel overwhelmed. Which debt should you pay off first? Does it require high-level math (gulp) or a debt consolidation calculator?

Answers: It depends on your unique financial situation, you don’t need to be a mathematician (fear not, there are no riddles or word problems), and a debt consolidation calculator is very helpful but not absolutely necessary.

If you have multiple debts, you may be confused about which one to pay off first. Here's how to pay off debt in the best order.

If you’re looking to find out which of your debts you should prioritize and how to pay them off, keep reading.

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Personal Finance

What Is Your Big Financial Worry in 2021?

We have just passed the one third marker in the year 2021 and at first glance, it seems like we are in a better place than we were just a few months ago. When it comes to things like the economy for example, markets are at all-time highs, employment numbers seem to be getting back on track, and we finally have some light at the end of the tunnel on vaccinations of our citizens. All of that is good news for sure. But the questions about these things really never cease and are still on your mind, aren’t they? The questions that keep you up at night and worrying, the ones that seem ever present. So what is your big financial worry in 2021 and what can you do about it?

What's your big financial worry? If you have problems with your finances, and have a lack of cash or cash flow, here are some solutions.

Does It Help Knowing You Are Not Alone?

Since we’re all a little (or a lot) more isolated these days, it can feel good to know that you’re not going through financial stress and worries alone. You are not the only one with financial questions and challenges. Just take a look around and you will see that pretty clearly.

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Family & Relationships, More, Retirement

Why Future Shock Is So Scary and What You Can Do About It

Back in 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote a best-selling book entitled “Future Shock”. The book is about our present. But that present was based in a world of 1970 and the author’s theories on what our future would be like.

Future shock is what happens when we're overwhelmed by change. That can be scary, but there is something you can do about it...plan ahead!

Future shock is about what happens to those who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations, and even our patterns of friendship and love. Fifty plus years later, we are still experiencing future shock and we are no better off at dealing with it today, so long after Tolliver first coined that phrase. That’s because our future is very scary. It always has been, and it always will be. But why is that?

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Personal Finance

After the Pandemic: What’s Next for Your Money Plan?

The pandemic nightmare isn’t over quite yet, but with vaccines now rolling out, the end seems to be in sight. We have someone in charge now who has made a big dent into a return to normalcy. While it’s not time to be lax about public health measures (i.e. social distancing, washing your hands, and mask wearing), it is a good time to start thinking ahead to your financial future and make a money plan.

With the end of the pandemic hopefully in sight, it's time to consider your post-pandemic money plan. Here are some items to address now.

Yes, I said it. Finances, money, moolah, dough. You have to start making a plan as to exactly how you are going to recover from what has been “Paradise Lost” as someone might say. Who would have ever thought that just eating out at a Mickey D’s would have been remembered as such a special thing?

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Budgeting, Food

Your Grocery Budget: How to Make It and Stick to It

Do you have a grocery budget that’s working for you? To me, it’s super basic, but to so many, making any kind of budget is like speaking a foreign language. Setting a budget goal for food will help you save money, period.

Whether you're making a grocery budget for the first time, or simply trying to save more, these tips will help you reach your goals.

Without a budget or a plan, your spending habits and your control over your money are doomed to fail. And it doesn’t matter how much money you may have, it still happens. But I can help you find your budget and stick to it.

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Debt, Family & Relationships

Will Relationship Debt Destroy You as a Couple?

I was just discussing with my wife how these days we have planning resources for just about everything in life. We have health plans, retirement plans, wedding planners, and estate planning. You can plan a vacation with experts and plan where to go to college with sage advice when you need it. But despite the fact that we have marriage counseling and credit counseling available, they always come after the problems arise. And for unmarried couples, well, it may not even exist. “Couple planning” is left to the couples themselves and it can be a huge task to get it right. If there’s relationship debt, it gets even more complicated.

Relationship debt puts a serious strain on married and cohabiting couples. Here's how couples can plan to avoid big debt.

Debt can quickly and easily become a source of contention between a couple. That’s why it’s important to deal with relationship debt proactively, before it becomes a destructive force.

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Retirement

Why Most Americans Do Not Prepare For Retirement

I just finished watching some really depressing information on CNBC today, information that I know is true, but still shocks the senses out of me when I hear and see it in detail. Americans do not prepare for retirement!

Have you done what you need to in order to prepare for retirement? Most Americans haven't prepared properly. Here's why and what can be done.

How it is possible that smart people like us (well supposedly smart, that is) just don’t take as much time looking at retirement as they do deciding what to order for dinner from Grubhub? That may be a small exaggeration, but you get my point. We tend to worry about retirement tomorrow a la Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind”. So, why are Americans so unprepared for retirement?

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Health, Shopping

Drugstore Savings: Best Ways to Save at the Pharmacy

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Even though I have written so much in this blog about “saving at the supermarket” over the past 7 years, saving money at the drugstore has become just as big a deal. So today, let’s take a look at what savings at your pharmacy can really mean to you and how much it affects your budget and life!

Drugstores offer all kinds of merchandise these days and so it's important to know how to save at the pharmacy. Check out these 5 tips to save money.

Pharmacy Sticker Shock

Drugstore sticker shock seems as if it is on everything from prescriptions to toilet paper. If you look around the store, it seems like it is a very real thing if we even attempt to shop for convenience when we are already there for actual prescriptions or other medical necessities. We have all been in that position, haven’t we? But there are plenty of ways you can actually save big at your favorite drugstore. Here are a few important things to know and do when it comes to you and your pharmacy right now!

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