Minimum Payments Will Cost You
Routinely make the minimum payment on your credit card and you’re just the sort of sucker credit card issuers love to have as customers.
read more
Rapid Rescore = $$$
Applying for a mortgage or thinking of refinancing? Be sure your mortgage lender does a “rapid rescore” analysis of your credit report.
read moreCan’t Pay Your Taxes?
You’ve finished your tax return, yay! But there’s just one problem: you don’t have the money to pay your taxes due by April 18. Now what?
read moreCan We Afford This?
I have a foolproof method of judging whether I can afford something: My wife tells me. You may not be so lucky.
read moreShould Humans Buy & Hold?
Can an investment strategy work in practice that requires regular decision-making and market assessments from an inescapably emotion-laden human with his or her own money at stake?
read moreHandling a Money Crisis
What would you do if a family wage earner were unexpectedly laid off? Panic and paralysis is normal for a day or two, but then what?
read moreFinancially Survive the Shutdo...
While the national leaders Americans elected shoot spitballs at each other, you’ve got bills to pay. If your income has been slashed, we hope temporarily, by the government shutdown, you need a plan to keep your head above water. Here it is.
read morePlan to Pay Off Debt
You’re ready to attack a mountain or a molehill of debt. If your goal is to flatten the debt by a certain date, how much do you pay each month?
read morePay Debt with 401(k) Loan?
If you have high-interest debt like credit cards, that chunk of change you’ve accumulated in your workplace retirement account may look mighty tempting. Why not lend it to yourself, pay off the credit cards, and save the interest expense?
read moreWhen to Freeze Your Credit
You may have heard of freezing your credit cards in a block of ice as a tactic to deter impulse spending and borrowing. But that’s not what’s meant by “credit freeze.”
read more