Personal Finance Advice

I read an article on MSNBC.com this week about how people are not paying on their homes and voluntarily entering foreclosure so that they can save money. The gist of the piece is that these people have simply decided to stop paying on the home and use the money for doing more fun things in [...]

This week’s lecture was about credit reports, credit reporting bureaus, identity theft, and collection agencies. Quite a scattering of topics. The first part of the class was on credit scores and credit bureaus. Dave makes the point that a FICO score is an, “I love debt score” because the only way to get a FICO [...]

I knew it was bound to happen, but I’d been hoping that somehow I’d avoid it. Despite having excellent credit and no debt, we got a letter from one of our credit card companies dropping our limit from $10,000 to $300. This was done because of “inactivity” on our account, which really translates into the [...]

I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie in the 70′s. Each episode had a moral to it, but it wasn’t until I staged a marathon viewing session courtesy of Netflix that I realized how many of those episodes dealt with the subject of money in some form. Maybe some of my money habits [...]

It takes my neighbor hours to pay all her bills while being debt free keeps me from that onerous chore, saving me valuable time. The same neighbor taught me about another time saving aspect of being debt free. This neighbor requested her free credit report from AnnualCreditReport. I had mentioned it to her some time [...]

This is one of the hardest times of the year for me to continue setting money aside. For one, the money we earmarked for gifts has been spent, which makes the total in our account look smaller than usual. I’ve learned some techniques to stay on the savings course from my dear mother. She went [...]

One of the major costs of college is the amount of time you stay there. By being able to graduate in a shorter period of time, students can not only save on tuition, but also college related expenses such as room and board. So what can college students do to ensure they spend no more [...]

While one way to cut the cost of college is take AP classes, many cost saving college pundits suggest another is going to a less expensive community college rather than starting straight off at a more expensive 4-year university. I agree with them. I also think those savings should also be claimed by high school [...]

Oh the AP tests. One 4-hour exam can determine the fate of a whole college course. The 1st two weeks each May, high schoolers across the US gather at testing sites to spill their brains onto their testing booklets in the hopes of proving they are worthy of college credit. Here are the basics. This [...]