If you’re a furloughed government employee or other worker sidelined by the shutdown – or worse, working without a paycheck – you’re probably at risk of missing payments or racking up large credit card bills. How do you keep your credit score from dropping as a result?
On-time payments are one of the
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By Amy Beardsley
You are given the option of “debit or credit” when making purchases with your debit card. As it turns out, there’s a lot more to consider before swiping your debit card to pay for that next purchase. Although debit cards may look like credit cards, they don’t function like credit cards. When
Did Santa bring you more gift cards this holiday season? Do you have a pile of partially used gift cards with small remaining balances? You can redeem them as part of a larger balance, but if you don’t regularly shop at that merchant, that may not be practical.
Many consumers forget about partially
By Andrea Woroch
There’s nothing more rewarding than starting your own business. Opening the front door of a shop for the first time, launching a new product or watching your problem-solving solution take flight can be life altering. However, regardless of your business idea or efficiency of execution, there’s one certainty – it won’t be
One of the most controversial provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was the limit it placed on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. The TCJA capped the deduction on combined payments for state and local property, sales, and income taxes at $10,000 beginning in the 2018 tax year.
According to the
The Shutdown’s Housing Market Woes It’s a great time to buy a home, and you’re ready. You’ve saved up a suitable down payment, found a home, and settled on a lender. As an added bonus, interest rates are at their lowest point in the last nine months – despite the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.
Do the words “tax return” send shivers down your spine because you always end up with a gigantic headache and little or no tax refund at the end? Maybe the problem is in preparation and planning – or lack of it. Tax law is complicated, and it takes a coordinated, sustained effort to optimize your
Identity thieves have many ways to steal your money – including fraudulent tax returns. They file a return in your name as early as possible to beat your legitimate return, with fake financial data designed to claim a large refund. You won’t realize this until your tax return is denied because there’s already been a
Santa was not so kind to your friends and relatives this year, so you felt the need to fill the gap. You overspent on holiday gifts, and now you are stuck with a significant amount of holiday debt. Gratitude from gift recipients is a great feeling, but gratitude is not going to pay off your
What do you do with debts that have unfavorable interest rates or difficult payment terms? If you can, consolidate them into one debt stream with more favorable terms. Balance transfer credit cards exist for this purpose, but personal loans may be an even better alternative.
November 2018 data from LendingTree shows that over two-thirds of
According to Federal Reserve data, serious credit card delinquencies rose sharply in late 2016 and continued to grow through 2018, nearing 5% of cardholders. Similarly, involuntary account closures rose from 4.2% in 2016 to 7.2% in 2018 – but why?
If the economy is doing so well, why are people having trouble paying credit card
According to the latest Household Debt and Credit Report from the New York Federal Reserve, America’s total household debt has surpassed $13.5 trillion. Do you sometimes feel like $13 trillion of that debt is yours?
Based on a recent survey by LightStream, almost one-quarter (23%) of Americans believe that it’s nearly impossible to climb out
Is 2019 the year you finally buy that starter home? Are you upgrading or downsizing to a new home? Are you interested in how your home value is likely to change over the next year? We offer these 2019 housing market predictions to consider as you review your housing plans for the year.
Inventory Will
Your Christmas gift from the Federal Reserve is here. Surprise! It’s another 0.25% hike in the Federal Funds rate. Sure, you’ve already gotten this same gift three other times in 2018, and nine times since late 2015 – but what else would you expect to receive from the Fed?
Interest rate hikes from the Fed
It’s been almost a year since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) brought sweeping changes to the American tax system. Since there have been just a few headlines coming out of Washington, DC, since the TCJA was signed, we offer a reminder of changes affecting your tax returns for the 2018 tax year (filed
A good 401(k) plan can be an attractive selling point for businesses looking to hire the best and brightest. However, smaller businesses may have a hard time establishing a 401(k) plan capable of competing for the attention of potential employees.
Few small businesses have the resources to carry out 401(k) administrative tasks, and the smaller
Are you finding it difficult to open a new bank account due to a previous mismanaged account? Your bridges with your bank may not have burned down completely. Get back into your bank’s good graces with a second chance checking account.
Fresh Start, Second Chance Checking Account According to an FDIC National Survey, as of
You’ve just become eligible for Social Security benefits. Are you going to apply for them now, wait until your full retirement age, or delay benefits as long as you possibly can? What if circumstances change, and you determine you would be better off waiting for benefits after filing?
You may be in luck. According to
How often do you change passwords on all of your accounts? Or, are all of your passwords simply “password” or “123”?
Like most of us, you probably don’t change passwords very often or make them very challenging because you’re afraid you’ll forget them. As a result, we leave ourselves vulnerable to identity theft – yet
Life can be hard without a checking account. It becomes more difficult to pay your bills and handle daily money transfers without resorting to handling cash and dealing with check-cashing outlets that can take a significant cut of your funds. Unfortunately, you can be denied a checking account for a negative association with one of
You’ve kept your will updated regularly to make sure your assets are distributed according to your wishes upon death. Have you done the same thing with your beneficiary designations? If not, your wishes may not be carried out as you expect.
A will covers the destination of most assets upon your death. However, assets that
Times aren’t great in the mortgage refinancing market. According to the October 2018 Origination Insights Report from mortgage application software provider Ellie Mae, refinancing homes make up 32% of October’s closed mortgages – continuing a drop in refis that began five to six months prior.
It’s likely that mortgage rate increases are to blame for
Does your wallet take a bigger hit during the holiday season? If so, you aren’t alone. According to a recent study by LendingTree, more consumers fall behind on their bills in December than in any other month.
LendingTree reviewed anonymized credit report data from October 2017 through September 2018 and broke down the percentages of
The holiday season is full of plans and activities that make December incredibly hectic. If you are the average American, tax considerations and financial adjustments are pretty low on your holiday to-do list. However, you are not the average American — you enjoy saving money, are diligent in seeking ways to save, and excellent at
Many people are reconsidering their budget to prevent holiday overspending over the next few months. If you are one of these people, good for you – but why stop there? This is a great time to look further ahead and tackle your 2019 budget.
Lay out your calendar, spreadsheet, or whatever method you use and
The Pool Is Shrinking A home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC) can be a useful financial management tool – but only if you have the available equity to take advantage of it. Do you know how much you could borrow against your home if you had to?
Black Knight’s October 2018 Mortgage Monitor
By Sean Harper, CEO and Co-Founder of Kin Insurance
The holidays may be the most wonderful time of the year, but they are also a time of increased risk. Consider the extra visitors alone. Every person who walks through your door brings with them the chance of an accident, another opportunity for injuries on
Do credit cards and the holidays spell trouble for you? Credit cards and holiday spending can be a dangerous combination – but it doesn’t have to be. Look at your credit cards as financial tools that can help you save money as well as spend it.
Here are seven ways to use credit cards to
Our prior article, 5 Steps To Be Your Own Mogul – Part 1, covers the first three steps to manage your finances like a business. Below we present the final two steps.
4. Forecasting
If you have performed the budget exercise and broken your expenses out into categories, you can start to highlight areas
Why not take some financial pointers from the business world and apply them to your personal finances? Whether you are a party of one or a family of four, it pays to be fiscally agile. Some of the longest financial plays in the business world today are small businesses that perennially stay afloat and drive
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