Millennials are supposed to be the cautious generation where credit is concerned. Many were burned during the housing crisis and Great Recession and vowed not to be overextended with credit. However, evidence is growing that millennials are headed down the same dangerous credit path as previous generations.
While millennials do have lower average credit card
Imagine an online offer for a restaurant chain that is so tempting it sells out in one second. That actually happened with the return of the Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Pass.
The original Never Ending Pasta Pass in 2014 was so popular that it crashed Olive Garden’s website, and the passes sold out within
If you can get something either with or without a fee, why would you ever pay the fee? Unless you just enjoy throwing money away, you’d have to get something of value in return to justify the fees.
A recent survey from Discover, a major issuer of no-fee credit cards, investigated fees and their effects
Who doesn’t love cash back rewards? We all enjoy the feeling of getting something back with our purchases, and credit card companies know this. They offer rewards programs as incentives – and a recent survey from CreditCards.com shows that cash back programs are the most attractive variety.
Almost one-third (31%) of survey respondents chose 3%
Created in July 2010, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been a welcome advocate for consumers wronged by businesses and financial institutions. In its short lifetime, the agency has fielded 1.5 million consumer complaints, publishing just fewer than 1.2 million of them in a convenient searchable form. The CFPB commands attention, as 97% of
Congratulations! Your family will soon be blessed with your first child. You’re on your way to a lifetime of cherished memories – and a whole new series of financial challenges.
From bringing them into the world to sending them off to the working world, children are one of the largest expenses of your lifetime. According
Huge data breaches are becoming commonplace, exposing the personal information of thousands of consumers to potential identity theft – but the 2017 Equifax data breach may have been one of the most disappointing.
Data breaches often target retailers that store personal information on their customers. You have a choice whether or not to shop at
Graduation for the Class of 2019 is here. Some college graduates have studied physics and will pursue rocket science as a career. Others plan to become doctors, memorizing every bone in the body, while a few are walking encyclopedias when it comes to history. But how many of them can – and do – balance
Millennials faced a difficult entry into adulthood. Many came of age during the housing crisis and the Great Recession, facing scarce jobs and crushing student loan debt. It makes sense that Millennials would be wary of taking on more debt – and Experian’s most recent State of Credit Report backs that up.
According to Experian’s
You don’t want your boss to fire you, but being FIRE is good… when FIRE is the acronym for “financially independent, retire early”.
A FIRE retirement requires careful planning. You’re going to need more money than most to sustain your early retirement plans – perhaps covering up to forty years of retirement. Where can you
It seems obvious. If you drive an expensive car, you must have an excellent credit score – but that’s not always the case.
Credit scores are calculated from factors in your credit report, including on-time payment history and how much of your available credit you use. You could be a Lamborghini driver who is drowning
Are your kids ready for the financial challenges of adulthood? The 10th annual Parents, Kids, and Money Survey from T. Rowe Price shows the benefits of early financial education, including both formal schooling and parental guidance.
The T. Rowe Price survey typically polls children aged eight to fourteen years old, along with their parents, to
Current Federal Reserve Chairperson Jerome Powell recently indicated that the Fed may soon cut interest rates for the first time since the start of the financial crisis in 2009. What would such a change in the federal funds rate mean for you?
In today’s world of 24/7 cable TV and Internet news, people are more
Debt is no picnic at any age, but it’s particularly rough on senior citizens. Most are nearing their retirement years or have already retired with little time (or money) to pay down debts.
Seniors tend to have better access to more credit if they need it. Their average credit score is 745, well above the
Does your family celebrate Amazon Prime Day? Over half of Amazon customers are estimated to be members of Amazon Prime, a staggering figure. Prime Day 2018 was the biggest shopping day of the year, exceeding even Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with 89 million visitors logging on and over 100 million products sold. Prime Day
America’s credit card debt is nearly $1 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. How much of that debt belongs to your kids?
The 2019 Parents, Kids, and Money Survey from T. Rowe Price shows that credit card use has skyrocketed among 8-to-14-year-olds over the past seven years – from 4% in 2012 to 17% today.
Few things are more effective at fighting identity theft than credit freezes. When you freeze your credit, potential lenders can’t access your credit file to assess the risk of lending money to you. No risk assessment means no credit – so identity thieves can’t use your stolen information to create fake accounts in your name.
You finally made it through college and graduated with a degree, a new set of friends, great memories, and most likely a significant amount of student loan debt. How can you manage paying such a substantial debt on a starting salary (assuming you were fortunate enough to find a job at all)? It is not
By Dawn Springer
Mortgage rates may be rising but there’s still room to refinance your home loan. You might have heard much said about the constant rise of interest rates over the past year, with some blaming that for a recent dip in home sales. Yet mortgage rates remain near record lows, presenting an opportunity
By Laurence Jankelow, cofounder at Avail
Whether you’ve owned your two-flat duplex for years or you’re trying to decide whether real estate is the right addition to your portfolio, it’s important to think of rental property as an investment. Like any investment, your goal should be to maximize returns.
You don’t need to predict which
Congratulations! You’ve made it through college and are looking forward to using your new skills in the real world. Here’s our gift to help you start your journey – a copy of your credit report.
If you aren’t familiar with your credit report and how it works, now’s the time to check it out.
Congratulations! You’ve just finished paying off your mortgage – probably the largest debt you’ll ever have in your life. Should you expect your credit score to increase as a result? Not necessarily.
Your credit score is calculated from your credit report, a history of all of your borrowing and payment activity. While your mortgage was
Americans appear to be feeling more confident in their finances – at least with respect to their credit card payments.
According to a new survey from CompareCards.com, more Americans are paying their credit card bills in full. As of January 2019, 39% of survey respondents paid all credit card bills in full over the last
Total student debt in America is almost $1.5 trillion, while the average person with education debt in 2018 owed between $20,000 and $24,999. This massive debt load threatens the ability of recent and future graduates to reach their goals of home ownership and economic independence.
How can you successfully get your children through college without
When you were a first-time homebuyer, you were probably surprised by the total amount of fees and closing costs. Are you familiar with the costs on the selling side?
A recent study from Zillow and Thumbtack calculated the average costs of selling a home both nationwide and in specific markets. The national average is $20,851,
For some parents, sending their kids to day camp is a way to get a bit of peace and quiet. For others, it is an opportunity to work or look for employment without having to scramble for childcare. If you are in the latter category, do not let your hectic life cause you to forget
One of the most controversial provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. The TCJA capped the SALT deduction at $10,000 – which sounds generous until you realize how high state and local taxes can be in certain areas.
SALT taxes are combinations
Some trends fade and then return after a few decades or so, like bell bottoms and tie-dye. You probably have a few things in the back of your closet waiting patiently to become a hot new retro-style – whether that’s good or bad for society in general.
Unfortunately, that’s true for financial trends as well
By Andrea Woroch
After months of heavy spending – and eating – people across the country start to think to themselves: this isn’t sustainable.Like clockwork, Americans make ambitious plans.January is the big month, but that’s just the beginning.Or, so they think.
According to U.S. News & World Report, by the second week of February, some
Hey, We Agree On Something It’s difficult to get a bill passed on a bipartisan basis in the current Congress, but the latest retirement bill is one of those rarities. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act is designed to give Americans greater access to retirement funds while making it easier to
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