Category Archives: Saving

Saving, Student Loans · July 13, 2016

Teach Your Children Well-Part 2: Instill the Pleasure of Saving

You know your kids are sponges. So let me ask you a question: what lessons about saving are they absorbing from you? I can’t overstress the importance of instilling an appreciation for saving.

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Budgeting, Investing · July 6, 2016

Teach Your Children Well-Part 1: Bill Pay Together

Sitting down with your children once a month and having them help you pay the family bills is an incredibly valuable life-lesson opportunity that sadly few families use.

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Debt, Student Loans · June 29, 2016

A Taxing Reason to Not Buy a Home

There are two potentially large tax breaks that come with buying a home. But listen to me: I never think it is a good idea to factor in the tax breaks when deciding if you are ready to buy your…

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Emergency Funds, Home Loans, Saving · June 15, 2016

Step 3: Get to the Point: When It Pays to Buy Down Your Mortgage

Lenders like to give home borrowers choices when it comes to their mortgage rate. You’ll always be presented with a standard rate: what you qualify for based on how the lender sizes up your financial profile (credit score, income, debts…

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Budgeting · May 25, 2016

Why I Don’t Like Weddings

Weddings bring out the worst in our bad-money habits. I have known too many couples that have gone into credit card debt to pay for a wedding. Love doesn’t mean paying 15% interest-or more!-for a special day. And I have…

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Retirement, Saving · May 11, 2016

That $30,000 Wedding Really Costs You $130,000 Or More.

The average cost of a wedding is now more than $30,000. As I have explained in How to Budget for a Wedding, spending even $3,000 on a wedding is a bad move if you have credit card debt, have yet…

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Debt, Insurance, Long Term Care, Retirement · April 27, 2016

Are You Fluent in the Language of Wealth?

I spend a lot of time helping people work out a plan for overcoming a financial challenge. Quite often the bulk of my work is in getting them into the right frame of mind. Financial problems are so stressful it…

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Home Loans, Investing, Saving · April 20, 2016

Turn a Child/Grandchild’s Summer Job into a Retirement Windfall.

If you have a child or grandchild who is going to get paid for work this summer, I want you to consider a way to gift them a valuable retirement stake.

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Credit Cards, Saving, Student Loans · April 13, 2016

Credit Card Industry Set to Rake in an Extra $30 Billion. How to Avoid Paying Your Part.

If you have unpaid credit card balances, your situation could soon progress from very expensive to ridiculously expensive.

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