Personal Finance Advice

Loans and credit cards provide great consumer benefits, but as with any form of borrowed money, you’ve got to be careful about how you manage credit. Here are tips for saving money on credit products - in your basic financial affairs, when shopping for new credit, and when using loans and credit cards.
1. Pay your [...]

When reducing debt, one of the problems is getting frustrated that you can never have any fun while doing it. One way to help keep yourself motivated is to give yourself rewards for reaching specific goals. This reader wants to know how to go about setting up these rewards:
I have started to reduce my credit [...]

One way to reduce the amount you pay in credit card interest is to do a balance transfer switching your high interest credit card rate for a much lower rate, often times 0% for a certain number of months. The problem is that it’s often difficult to tell what all the fine print means when [...]

You’ve finally done it — earned that coveted diploma. You’re feeling a bit cocky. Your parents are wondering why they had to pay for your expensive education when you already knew everything.
Now it’s time to enter The Real World, the place that you have talked about for years as if it were a [...]

When someone has credit card debt and wants to reduce the amount they are paying on interest, there is always the question of what is the best way to reduce that interest payment. A lot depends on the particular circumstances of that person. One reader asked what is the best move to make for his [...]

What motivates you to spend money? Most people never take the time to consider this question, but understanding the reasons why you spend money can go a long way to help you get your finances under control. Here are 15 common reasons people use as an excuse to spend money:
You Think It’ll [...]

Disclaimer: I always have a difficult choice on whether to report these loopholes because even if they may technically be legal, they certainly are an abuse of the intended law. I do not recommend that people participate on either side of this scheme to raise poor credit scores. That being said, it does exist and [...]

You may not know this, but your credit card provides a lot of additional services in addition to letting you postpone payment on purchases and earn cash back or frequent flyer miles. One of these services is rental car collision insurance. Car rental companies will always try to sell you insurance options that can add [...]

In general, I don’t advocate buying things that you don’t have the money for, whether it’s an expensive item like a car or an inexpensive item like a pair of shoes. In the case of computers, however, those offers to get a new laptop from Apple or Dell for “as low as $26.00 a month” [...]

If you have a credit card that charges an annual fee, your best course of action in most cases is to get a new credit card as soon as possible that doesn’t charge an annual fee. There are times when the decision on what to do becomes a bit more complicated as this question that [...]

There are a lot of people who don’t like credit cards for a variety of reasons. I am not one of those people. In fact, there are a lot of great reasons why I love my credit cards. These are the top five:
I Fly Free: One of the credit cards that I [...]

When you come into some extra money and have debts to pay off, it can sometimes be confusing which ones you should tackle first. I often receive emails like this one asking for advice on which debts should be paid off first:
I’m currently $70,000.00 in debt with credit cards. I also have a mortgage [...]

One of the most difficult situations that any couple can come across in is money issues if they look at finances in a very different light. Most people don’t realize this until after they have married, but it is certainly something that should be discussed well before that time. In doing so you [...]

Sometimes a situation arises when you must make a decision on whether to use money that you had earmarked for a specific event for something other than its intended purpose. These financial decisions can be some of the hardest to make and is one that I recently received from a reader who wanted to [...]

I have always viewed credit cards as a financial tool. So it came as a bit of surprise when I realized that for many people credit cards are just as much a fashion statement as they are a financial tool. This truly hit home this weekend.
I was talking with a lady who has 17 [...]

I’m not sure whether I should be amused or horrified by this post. Either way, it goes to show that you should not place your trust in a paid for credit card identity theft monitoring system. The article is written by John Hargrave who also wrote the credit card prank where he signed his name [...]

Yesterday, I was reading my email and one was from a friend who had just had her purse stolen in a drive-by purse snatching. While losing the money in the purse is definitely both maddening and frustrating, it’s much of the other stuff that is in there that could become a pain both in time [...]

When you finally get around to reducing your debt, you want to make sure you go about it in the correct way. There’s more to debt reduction than cutting up credit cards and cutting costs. If you approach debt reduction with a well thought out plan that fits your situation, you’ll find yourself debt free [...]

A lot of problems with finances are the direct result of being financially lazy. That is, you know what you should be doing, but you’re just too lazy (or have a convenient excuse) not to do it. And while life is certainly not about making sure every detail of your finances is perfect 24 / [...]

It always amazes me that people want to invest their money in stocks when they are carrying credit card debt with double digit interest rates. Except for a few people that credit card arbitrage, almost everyone is better of investing their money into paying off their credit card debt than trying to invest somewhere else. [...]