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The second you finish reading the title, you are probably thinking “Of course YES. What a stupid question.” But I urge you to think about it a little longer and stay with me by reading on.
An gigantic number of MoneyNing readers have the dream of early retirement (myself included!). We want to pursue our hobbies, relax, and stop hearing the boss utter the words “Why are you late today?”. Some of us even have spreadsheets that map out our retirement plan and a detailed schedule of when our dreams will come true. On the worksheet are statistics such as our current net worth, projected return on capital and how much we would have 5, 10, 15, …, 30 years from now. If we are on track for early retirement, this whole process brings us a big smile. The spreadsheet gives us hope, and repeatedly looking over the details gives us motivation to work towards our goal.
Everyone dreams about reaching their $1 million (or $2, $3,$ 5 million, $12 million dollar retirement) goal and retiring early one day. But let’s say you finally reach your mark. Do you think you would retire if you are just 45 years young? [ continue reading… ]
Medical care is big business in the U.S and health insurance companies are out to make money, not to make sure you get quality medical care. Keeping this fact in mind will help motivate you to be vigilant about checking to make sure you’re getting your full insurance benefits. But navigating through all those codes can be exhausting, so here are a few tips to help you get the most from your health insurance by understanding all those complex codes.
The crippled United States economy has had a number of “bubbles” burst over the past 15 years. It started with the dot com industry in the late 90s and was followed by housing market bursting in the Mid 2000s. Many experts believe that student loans are next. The warning signs are evident: Going to college is gaining popularity, college tuition is paid for mostly with borrowed money and there isn’t a lot of research done to see if the recipients of the loans are a good fit. These are similar to the signs that we saw with the housing market as banks were giving out loans to just about anyone, which increased the number of houses being bought by unfit mortgage recipients.
How to Avoid Being a Victim
If you are a college student or a recent graduate there are a number of ways to avoid getting caught up in the student loan “bubble”. Unlike mortgages, student loans will not go away if you declare bankruptcy. There is really no way to back out of student loans, as they must be repaid. There are however a number of options to avoid defaulting on your student loans. [ continue reading… ]
Now might be just the right time to refinance your mortgage. Even if you already have a low interest rate mortgage, you could still benefit, thanks to the record-low rates that are present right now. Indeed, even someone with a 5% interest rate on a mortgage could save money, since rates on 30-year fixed mortgages are even lower.
Consider an adjustable rate mortgage, and you could end up with an even lower interest rate. With financial policymakers still trying to keep interest rates and Treasury yields low, there is a good chance that you will be able to take advantage of low rates for some time. However, since no one truly knows what’s coming, it helps to consider your options now.
Just remember: If you have costs associated with closing your refinance, you want to make sure that you will be in the home long enough for your interest savings to matter. [ continue reading… ]
Novelty and spontaneity are grand, but don’t forget that tradition has a very important place, especially for children. Our traditions give us a sense of security and a link to the past while we look forward to the future. Even though we’re living in tough economic times, one thing that any family can afford to do is start a new tradition. In fact, when talking to others about their favorite family holiday rituals, I find that many of them were born out of a need or desire to make something special out of not a lot. You don’t have to be struggling to see the value in initiating traditions that place the emphasis on togetherness and creativity instead of conspicuous and wasteful consumption.
Here are three inexpensive and easy to do holiday traditions that you can tweak to suit your own family’s taste, resources and current abilities. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself enjoying the same activities with your grandchildren 40 years from now! [ continue reading… ]
We should do nothing, absolutely nothing. Don’t get me wrong, as the day we become debt free is an important point in our lives. Having no debt payments will also drastically increase our cash flow, but we really shouldn’t wait until the day we are debt free to act.
Becoming debt free doesn’t happen overnight, and we should know months ahead of time (at least!) before our last payment is due. Therefore, we should plan for the money that will be freed up when we don’t have to put that towards paying off debt.
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