The Fed was right about some of its stimulus policies, basically. A new study shows that the Federal Reserve's bond-buying stimulus program, which has kept mortgage rates artificially low for the past four years, had a measurable, positive impact on American households and the economy. Of course, it didn't work in the exact way the [...]
Perhaps your teen is getting to the point where carrying around cash isn’t so convenient any longer. Maybe she’s signing up online for a crafts class, but she needs a credit card to do so. Or perhaps your student is away at college, and you’d rather he not carry a wad of $20s to the [...]
This article was written by guest blogger Bahiyah Shabazz. Imagine you’re taking a summer road trip and the check engine light on your dashboard suddenly pops on. You pull over to the nearest auto shop to get a diagnosis, only to find out that your transmission is going out. The mechanic can fix it today, [...]
People who have a financial plan build roughly 20 percent more wealth over their lifetimes than people who don’t. That's according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study, “Wealth Accumulation and the Propensity to Plan.” If you have a budget, it gets even better. For households making between $50,000 and $750,000—quite a wide range—budgeting [...]
This post was written by guest blogger Teri Cettina. You’re probably not paying for summer childcare for your tween or teen, but the warm-weather months can still be hard on your budget. The costs of camps, trips to the mall and outings to water parks and festivals can really add up. Luckily, there are fun [...]
This post was written by guest blogger Teri Cettina. The so-called lazy days of summer aren’t quite that laid-back for working parents of young children. Summer means no school for the kids for three full months—and instead, a complex patchwork of childcare or different summer camps. All this extra care can get expensive if you’re [...]
This post was written by guest blogger Teri Cettina. You have fond memories of a road trip your family took as a kid, so now you’re treating (torturing?) your clan to something similar. Good move: A driving vacation can be significantly cheaper than a trip requiring air travel. However, it’s easy to lose track of [...]
Your neighbor is running a 5K for a worthwhile charity and hopes you’ll sponsor her. A nonprofit agency to which you’ve donated in the past keeps contacting you about additional gifts. A coworker is collecting funds to buy a milk-producing goat for a needy family across the globe. These are all good causes, but donation [...]
This post was written by guest blogger Teri Cettina. As summer approaches, most of my friends talk about the camps, classes, and other activities that their kids will be attending this summer. But when I raise the idea of the kids earning summer money—whoa. This may still be a foreign concept for many parents of [...]
My teenage daughter, like her friends, pretty much lives on her Twitter and Facebook accounts. Me, not quite so much. I’m not a huge fan of sharing little bits of my daily life in short sentences. The way I do use social media, however, allows me to save money. Every few days, I check our [...]
