Personal Finance Advice

One of the selling tactics that I have been hearing more and more these days is to make purchases as a “lifestyle investment.” The entire term bothers me in a number of ways, but the worst part is be bringing in the word “investment” into the dialog, the salesperson is trying to make you believe [...]

February 25 through March 2 is America Saves Week which was created to promote better savings behavior so that individuals can put them in better financial shape. Getting all your different financial accounts in order is an important step in putting all of your savings onto the right track. Part of that effort is having [...]

By Bob Hock If you walk into a meeting with any financial adviser, there’s a very good chance that the adviser will present an annuity for your nest egg. Annuities have turned into the Mr. Fix-It for all age groups. An annuity is a tax-deferred savings vehicle bought mostly by seniors, and is designed to [...]

One of the biggest disgraces of the school system is that it often fails to teach basics that we all need for everyday life once we graduate. A prime example of this is basic personal finances. If we could get more students to graduate from high school with a basic understanding of how personal finances [...]

Ask around and you’ll find plenty of people willing to give you “sound” investment advice. I’ve never been much of a conformist, so I’m going to offer you, instead, ten pieces of really terrible advice on investing. Why? So you’ll recognize them when you hear them from the “experts” or your friends. Some readers will [...]

By entrepreneur-turned-art-dealer and gallery owner, Bill Clark of Clark Art Gallery, in Cheshire and London At a time where bank deposits, property and most conventional investments are producing poor returns there is a temptation to try less familiar investment commodities like precious metals, coins, antiques or art. But not everything that glitters is gold. Always [...]

There are a lot of people out there who want to give or sell you financial advice. Everyone from your brother to the guy on the infomercial has some system, stock pick, or trick that they want to turn you on to. And don’t forget the true financial advisors that work for your bank or [...]

In the high-risk business of investing and trading, it’s well known that gold is a solid investment in many ways. As the most sought-after of the precious metals, it’s a good hedge investment against economic disasters. Gold value is always in perfect contrast to the dollar. Still, many novice investors tend to forget, or avoid [...]

Are you a news junkie? If you are, hopefully you’re not making investment decisions based solely on the financial news or stock market analysis that the media provides all day and every day. When the stock market goes down, they say ask the question, “Has the next recession finally arrived” and when the market goes [...]

The savings account is about as in style as 90′s rock sensation Pearl Jam (Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of them) but much like some of those same 90s fads, the savings account is making a reemergence. Everybody is happy when interest rates fall and they can refinance their homes, but they forget [...]

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” is what you’re thinking. Here come all of the obesity facts. You think I’m going to talk about all of the money you spend on fast food, junk food, and those other sinful pleasures, or at least sinful as defined by the health nuts with six pack abs. No more guilt trips. [...]

In the wake of the post-Christmas sale frenzy, I found myself wondering, “Why is it that people will beat each other senseless to save 75% on wrapping paper and cards, but they won’t take advantage of the biggest sale of all: A down stock market?” Back when the market was tanking in 2008 and 2009, [...]

You may have heard about the movement to automatically opt employees into their 401K’s. Right now, the default option is for you not to contribute. When you’re hired they ask you if you’d like to contribute and how much. If you say no, then nothing is taken out of your check. There is a movement [...]

SavingAdvice is starting a new column that’s going to look at strange, offbeat ways to save and make money. Anything that’s a little odd, uncommon, or contrarian is fair game – as long as it’s legal. You probably already know about Roth IRA’s. These are IRA’s that you fund with after tax dollars and then, [...]

This week we moved on to Baby Steps Four and Five, which are saving for retirement and saving for your kids’ college education. Baby step four was on deck first, which is to save 15% of your household income in tax-advantaged plans. Dave points out that, at the time this class was filmed, 53% of [...]

This week was about the basics of investing. Once you’re out of debt and have your emergency fund, it’s time to move on to creating serious wealth. You do that by investing (or winning the lottery, but Dave doesn’t advocate that method). Obviously in a one-hour lecture Dave can’t touch on all of the intricacies [...]

If you are at all interested in finance, you’ve probably heard that it is necessary to be debt free in order to build substantial wealth. While a few gifted investors manage to build wealth while having a lot of real estate debt (think Trump) or debt that finances a business venture (think the people who [...]

With the death of defined pension plans, 401(k) retirement plans have become a staple for many employees, but the recent financial turmoil has put these once infallible savings vehicles under the microscope. There have been numerous news articles detailing the stunning losses of the stock market since October of last year. Such stories usually offer [...]

Dave Kansas of the Wall Street Journal has what I like to see in a capitalist economy: optimism. Talking about the year ahead, he described the stock market as looking “to the future, rather than the past.” Isn’t that exactly what we should do with our money? We save for the future, we plan for [...]

Although we are financially secure and tend to make wise decisions regarding our finances, we still screw up sometimes and do things that we later regret. We’re human. However, while we may have regrets I choose to look at them as learning opportunities. Whatever we regret from this past year is something that can be [...]