Money market accounts are a type of savings accounts that allows you to write checks and use a debit card on a limited basis. They are not like checking accounts, which allow for an unlimited number of transactions, but they do offer interest (up to 2.01% per year). Amanda Dixon, writing for Bankrate.com, has put… Read More
Retirement Spending (as reported by J.D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
Knowing how much to save for retirement is difficult. Knowing how much to spend during retirement might be even harder. There are two key reasons for that: You don’t know how long you are going to live You need to decide what the money is for If you knew exactly how long you would live,… Read More
How Much Should You Be Saving for Retirement? (as reported by Matt Becker on www.thesimpledollar.com)
Do you know how much you should be saving each month to finance your retirement? If you answered no, you are in the same position as the majority of Americans. Lucky for us, Matt Becker recently shared a downloadable spreadsheet on his website, The Simple Dollar. This spreadsheet allows you to input your current age,… Read More
Student Loan Repayment Plans (as reported by Dan Kopf on www.qz.com)
It is a common piece of advice to students who graduate with student loans – that they should opt for a repayment plan that prioritizes paying back as much as they can as soon as they can. Unfortunately, this advice is often wrong. No two people are alike – nor are their careers and/or debts…. Read More
Financial Implications of Marriage (as reported by Preeti Varathan on www.qz.com)
There are a lot of reasons people get married. And while we might not want to admit it, “financial reasons” often make that list. There are a number of ways in which getting married will impact your personal finances. First and foremost, they will change your taxes. While most common wisdom assumes that a married… Read More
Personal Finance Rules (as reported by J. D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
Rules of thumb are meant to stand as simple shortcuts for far larger, and more complex, processes and practices. The world of personal finance is rife with them. There are so many that, often, they conflict. When that happens, where do we turn? Who do we believe? Enter J. D. Roth, writing from his blog… Read More
Human Brains are Bad at Managing Money (as reported by Eshe Nelson on www.qz.com)
It would be great if one could improve the human brain to optimize it for handling money. As it is, there are a lot of things about the way we see the world that make managing our finances more difficult. For example, human beings have a present bias. That means that we have a tendency… Read More
Spend Now or Spend Later (as reported by J. D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
For young people who are first entering the workforce, saving money can seem quite daunting. Although you are earning money for the first time, there are immediate demands on that money – clothes, commuting costs, food, rent, etc. It is hard enough to earn enough to cover your expenses, much less have anything left over…. Read More
How Much Does Financial Aid Really Cover? (as reported by Dave Edwards and Helen Edwards on www.qz.com)
College tuition prices are higher than ever, and show no signs of coming down in the near term. So what is a family to do who wants the best education for their children but cannot afford the high costs of a college degree? Fortunately, most families qualify for some form of financial aid. But if… Read More
Raiding Your Retirement Savings (as reported by Allison Schrager on www.qz.com)
A 401k, pension account, or IRA are all built to help people save for retirement. However, what about saving for emergencies or other needs that crop up earlier in life. Often, those retirement savings can’t help you, because if you withdraw from them early, you are left to pay expensive penalties. That leads to a… Read More