If you’re looking to make a New Year’s resolution, here’s a good one to consider: Better managing your taxes. You should be receiving your tax paperwork soon, so do some preparation now to optimize your return and streamline the process. Here’s how you can start making this year’s New Year’s resolution—and stick to it: 1) [...]
“Spend less, save more.” It’s the third most popular new year’s resolution behind getting organized and losing weight, according to a Journal of Clinical Psychology study on resolutions. While I can’t help much with resolutions one and two (though it is helpful to apply the same principles to thinning your waistline as thinning your budget), the third one is [...]
According to a May 2013 Pew Research study, 40 percent of all households with children younger than 18 have mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income. The majority—63 percent—are single mothers, and 37 percent are married mothers with higher incomes than their husbands. With so many women in positions of financial [...]
Anyone preparing to go back to school has probably considered paying tuition, at least in part, with their retirement savings. After all, the money is just sitting there, waiting to be used. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should use it to pay for your degree. “Don’t do it,” says Kathy Ruby, senior college financial [...]
There is an old saying that people spend more time planning for a vacation than they do for retirement. You can imagine that most people spend even less time with estate planning. Planning for death or incapacity might not be on your bucket list, but it must be considered, especially when it relates to your [...]
The Fed was right about some of its stimulus policies, basically. A new study shows that the Federal Reserve's bond-buying stimulus program, which has kept mortgage rates artificially low for the past four years, had a measurable, positive impact on American households and the economy. Of course, it didn't work in the exact way the [...]
Perhaps your teen is getting to the point where carrying around cash isn’t so convenient any longer. Maybe she’s signing up online for a crafts class, but she needs a credit card to do so. Or perhaps your student is away at college, and you’d rather he not carry a wad of $20s to the [...]
This article was written by guest blogger Bahiyah Shabazz. Imagine you’re taking a summer road trip and the check engine light on your dashboard suddenly pops on. You pull over to the nearest auto shop to get a diagnosis, only to find out that your transmission is going out. The mechanic can fix it today, [...]
People who have a financial plan build roughly 20 percent more wealth over their lifetimes than people who don’t. That's according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study, “Wealth Accumulation and the Propensity to Plan.” If you have a budget, it gets even better. For households making between $50,000 and $750,000—quite a wide range—budgeting [...]
This post was written by guest blogger Teri Cettina. You’re probably not paying for summer childcare for your tween or teen, but the warm-weather months can still be hard on your budget. The costs of camps, trips to the mall and outings to water parks and festivals can really add up. Luckily, there are fun [...]
