Gone are the days of paper ledgers and tallying up your cancelled checks. With smartphones, people are emailing, making dinner reservations, destroying angry birds, and impressing friends with their words. Now, with advancing technology and increased security for mobile apps, smartphone users are also managing their finances safely and conveniently from the palms of their [...]
Prepaid debit cards are popular with some parents because such cards provide the experience of paying with plastic without actually borrowing money and without the chance of overdrafting. Prepaid debit cards are touted as valuable aids in teaching teenagers about money management. However, the recent furor over some celebrity-endorsed prepaid debit cards has many re-examining [...]
The Two Sides of Interest: Are You Paying It or Are You Earning It? When you hear the word “interest” in a financial context, what comes to mind? Credit card interest? Mortgage interest? Paying interest is certainly a reality for many, and knowing your interest rates is an important part of any plan to pay [...]
Good estate planning requires you to update your will to make sure your wishes are met and your heirs aren't left wondering whether your wishes were satisfied. Q: Our mother passed away quite suddenly. She had her old will out on her table as if she were going to update it. The will that we [...]
Financial success doesn’t just happen; you have to plan for it. A spending plan can help you allocate your money resources to the financial goals that will provide you with a secure future, as well as help you enjoy your life right now. When your family creates a spending plan, you take control of your [...]
Budget adjustment after divorce can be painful. Divorce is number two on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale with good reason and usually results in the couple readjusting their budget after a divorce. Anyone who has been through a divorce will tell you that it's a complicated and difficult process on so many levels. In [...]
Not long ago, I joined a popular weight management program to help me shed some post-baby pounds. (No comment on the fact that my “babies” were almost entering their double-digit years!) As I started learning techniques for shedding extra weight, I noticed something interesting. As my weight went down, my husband’s and my savings balance [...]
Lending money to family and friends can lead to problems, particularly if they get divorced. Recovering the money may be even harder. Q: My wife and I are in our late 60's and two years ago we loaned my son and his wife $60,000 for a down payment on a home. They bought the home [...]
Budgeting is often touted as the best path toward saving money. Unfortunately, budgeting sometimes doesn’t work in the long term, as many people don’t have the discipline to log their every expenditure and say no to spending. Instead of implementing a traditional budget, try PERK—an easy and effective money-savings plan, says Robert Pagliarini, founder of [...]
When my husband and I got married, we were young, but we were always thinking about saving money. My husband had $25 taken out of every paycheck for his employer to buy him savings bonds. (Back then, $25 was about 15 percent of our rent.) I started setting aside similar sums of money into savings, [...]
