Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
“Stop wasting your money on paying rent” is likely a phrase you’ve heard often. After all, the common version of the American dream consists of owning a home.
But is renting really all that bad? No, and sometimes it’s actually better than buying your own home. Yes, it’s true! In some cases, and for some families it’s smarter to rent than to buy.
However, that’s not the advice we often hear. I was personally suckered into the notion that buying is always better than renting. Why not, right? I was throwing thousands of dollars into rent each year. That’s money I could have used to buy a home and start building equity.
For about a year, I was looking for a place to call my own. But the catch? I live in NYC where property values are notoriously through the roof. Doing a quick search on Zillow.com shows the average home value in NYC is $548,000. If I had a million or two lying around, I wouldn’t have to think twice about buying.
But after searching and searching in the Big Apple, I soon realized that maybe buying wasn’t in my cards right now. Here’s why:
Common sense finance should be easy, right? But it’s not. Human nature and our inherent weaknesses cause us to make serious, expensive financial mistakes. What are the most basic, yet also the most important financial tips that we would want our kids to follow? Some of these tips are painfully obvious, and we’ve included them here, but many of us still ignore them. You’re very welcome to add your own of course, in the comments section! [ continue reading… ]
One of the most interesting areas of finance is called behavioral finance, which is the study of how our behaviors can influence the outcomes of our portfolios.
According to H. Kent Baker and Victor Ricciardi in The European Financial Review, there are several behavioral biases that can impact your investment portfolio and result in lower returns.
According to a recent report by CareerBuilder, 78% of Americans who work full-time live paycheck to paycheck.
That number is staggering.
I know it’s tempting to splurge a little and spend on things you’ve never had the opportunity to before whenever you have extra money to spare at the end of the month, but consider investing the sum instead before all of it is gone.
Thinking about the long term is hard, especially when it comes to finances, but life does get easier the earlier you start laying the foundation for good financial habits.
Whether you have $100 or $1,000 to spare every month, investing extra funds wisely can have a significant impact on your future. Let’s take a look at four things you do with extra money every month: [ continue reading… ]
You wouldn’t let your teenager cruise around solo before he’s had some driving lessons, would you? It’s pretty obvious that the responsibility of driving is something that requires education, practice, and time.
But many parents are allowing their teens to take on another important responsibility without the benefit of an education. Specifically, many young people get their first credit card without any idea of how to manage the privilege. This can have disastrous results.
Rather than letting your teenager navigate the potentially treacherous waters of credit by himself, start providing him with age-appropriate lessons early on.
Here are a few reasons why you should give your kids a credit card. [ continue reading… ]
Mathematically, it’s obvious that paying off loans with the highest interests rate first makes the most financial sense but as you may know, some financial experts promote “paying off the smallest loans first”. Why do they do that? Let’s take a look today.
Smallest Loan First
The smallest loans first method is simple. Instead of paying off debt with the highest interest rates (ie, the ones with the least favorable terms), you put that aside and list out all your debt sorted by the amount owed. Then, you pay the minimum payment of all your loans each month and pile all other available income for debt repayment into the loan with the smallest amount outstanding. Once the first debt is repaid, you try to repay the second smallest debt you owe and so on.
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