Personal Finance Advice

People make fun of me because I always have NPR, CNBC or The Nightly Business Report on in the background when I’m working. They tell me I’m a finance junkie, and they’re not far off. But, it’s entertainment for me and every now and then I get to hear someone utter words that are so [...]

I’m sure I’m dating myself by telling you that I remember the days when boys in high school took shop and the girls took home economics. I don’t know what went on in shop class, but I know that home economics, as it was taught then in my school, was a joke. We did learn [...]

I have been walking regularly to many errands to save money on gas, wear-and-tear on the car, and to tamp down the urge to spend money on a gym membership. While an energizing and cleansing experience, these walks reveal unpleasant sights in my city: litter, leaves clogging street drains, and stray shopping carts.
These are not [...]

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 [...]

It’s become quite fashionable to attack credit card companies or banks who hold our mortgages, especially with the recent turmoil in the financial market. While talk of increased regulation and pointing the finger of blame may each have their place in how we deal with such situations, both psychologically and fiscally, they can quickly overwhelm [...]

Now that back to school season is upon us, my state and many others are promoting their upcoming tax free weekends. These are the weekends where you can buy items from certain categories and escape the state and/or local sales taxes on those items. The rules vary by state, but typically the items you can [...]

It seems everything is taxable — even coupons! I never questioned the small print on the coupons I use, at least not the part about the customer paying sales tax. (I don’t understand why a manufacturer can say a coupon shouldn’t be doubled when it’s the retailer that makes a doubling offer, but [...]

“Falling housing market.” “Possible recession.” “Troubled economy.” These phrases have been buzzing around lately in the media. Real estate prices were going up and many people decided to buy more house than they could afford with unconventional mortgage terms. Now the house prices are falling in many areas and people can’t [...]

If you haven’t heard, the government is devising an “economic stimulus package” to jump start the economy. While the details aren’t yet final, it appears that the majority of American workers and retirees will be getting some rebate money from Uncle Sam. The latest figures to be tossed around are $1,000 per couple, $500 per [...]

Before money existed, people exchanged goods and services through bartering. Even after money became the logical solution to the problem of finding someone who could offer what you wanted and wanted what you had to offer, bartering remained a viable alternative way to do business.
Today, as the Internet has enabled more [...]

I recently stumbled upon the idea of a different tax system that some are advocating our country change to called The Fair Tax. I don’t know if my head has been in the sand about this or if many other people have never heard of it as well. It was an interesting concept [...]

When it comes to how much money the government keeps out of your paycheck, there are often a lot of questions. You don’t want to be giving the government a free loan of your hard earned money, but at the same time, you don’t want to owe a lot of taxes when April 15 [...]

One basic fundraising rule is to tell potential donors what’s in it for them. It sounds strange that charities would appeal to donors’ sense of self-interest rather than to their sense of charity, but that’s what they do, albeit subtly, so as not to suggest that donors are selfish. While I believe that [...]

I understand the argument behind the advice of putting at least a 20% down payment on a house purchase. No one wants to pay private mortgage insurance and the idea of getting two different loans to avoid it isn’t that great either. I imagine if you are a previous homeowner and have some [...]

By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky
The average college student graduates with almost $20,000 in student loans. While this is a daunting sum, it is still possible to build wealth even while paying off student debt. But earning the degree and paying for the degree require two different kinds of smarts. In fact, [...]

By David John Marotta
Putting all of your retirement eggs in one basket is easy to carry, but risky. Most workers are putting all their retirement assets in the basket of their employer’s retirement plan. They are depending on one employer and two dozen eggs (funds) to hatch and maintain their lifestyle, independence and dignity [...]

By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky
Income-shifting is one of several tax planning tools families have used to lower their tax bill. Historically, parents could save a bundle by transferring highly appreciated investments to their children who are in lower tax brackets. However, this year, Congress has made income-shifting a dream of the past, [...]

A few weeks ago, I discovered a hardware store receipt among some papers my in-laws had given us. Because my father-in-law works in maintenance, I called them to see if he needed the receipt for reimbursement from his job. No, my mother-in-law told me, it wasn’t a work expense; it was the receipt [...]

You’ve probably heard before that it doesn’t always make sense for both adults in a household to work because the second spouse’s income is all taxed at the marginal rate. When childcare costs are factored in, there can be little-to-no financial motivation for both parents to work. But did you know that taking a full-time [...]

I think almost every week I hear someone who makes over $70k a year mention their wonderful student loan interest tax deduction. It’s time to take a few minutes to educate the masses about the student loan interest. Plain and simple, if you make a good wage you will not qualify for the student loan [...]