While owning your own home isn’t exactly the “easy button” for wealth-building it’s sometimes made out to be, it’s still a reliable way to build your net worth over the long term. Aside from the emotional aspects of having a piece of property to call your own, a house represents a significant asset—for most people,…...
Get ready to start paying student loans again. President Biden’s sweeping plan for student loan relief is currently at the Supreme Court, and whatever the ruling, repayment is likely to start this summer. While everyone’s attention has been on debt cancelation, the Biden administration has also made moves to change… Read more…
The credit score, which has a surprisingly long history dating back to the 19th century, is mainly used to judge how much risk you represent to lenders. It makes sense: If you have a bad habit of not paying back loans or defaulting on credit cards, why would anyone trust you with fresh debt? But...
If you live in fear of racking up debt, you might be hesitant to pay any of your bills with a credit card. While you should, if at all possible, avoid putting bills on a credit card when you can’t afford to pay them, you do have the option to pay most bills with a...
Sometimes a deal can feel too good to pass up, and that can especially be the case with a gift card deal—particularly since federal law gives you five years from the date a gift card is activated to use it before it expires. If you’ve got a purchase planned in the semi-near future for places...
You know you need to pay your credit card bill on time, and that you should always pay enough to avoid keeping a balance. But if you struggle with managing your money, you might be tempted to pay off your credit card immediately after every purchase. This payment strategy would essentially be treating your credit...
In many ways, the digital age has made gift giving easier. You can fill up a single online shopping cart and send gifts anywhere in the world. At the same time, some things are not as easy as they used to be. Remember when you could just walk into a store and buy someone a...
It’s never too late to start saving for retirement, but anyone who starts early sure does get a huge advantage. The reason for this is compound interest, which we’ll run the numbers on below. If you’ve been waiting to invest in your retirement until you check off other financial goals (cough cough, students loans),… Read...
With all the wisdom you have now, imagine if you could turn back time and get a head start building good credit from an early age. While you can’t change history for yourself, you can help your own kids build a strong financial foundation—and from an earlier age than you might realize. Even if your...
You have your basic checking and savings accounts—beyond that, how can different types of accounts serve your savings goals? What’s the smartest way to stash your hard-earned funds? We’ve recommended before that dividing your money into multiple accounts helps you see all your saving goals separately, so they’ll be… Read more…