I have student loans and I’m wondering if it’s a good idea to consolidate them. Does it ever save money to consolidate student loan debt if you can afford your payments?
– Eileen Asks
Absolutely. There are three main reasons to consolidate your loans: financial, management and suitability.
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Today’s post comes from Odysseas Papadimitriou, who found that even him, a credit card industry expert, were caught off guard by a special fee called Dynamic Currency Conversion while he was traveling overseas. Learn what it is by reading below, and also an additional “must-know” tip when you travel in Europe these days.
I’ve been working in the credit card industry for almost a decade, and at this point I consider myself to be something of a subject matter expert. However, on a recent trip to London, I was humbled to discover some gaps in my basic knowledge of how to best use credit cards when traveling abroad.
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No matter what culture you come from, there are at least a couple of big life events that you celebrate with your family. Whether we’re talking about weddings, quinceañeras or bar mitzvahs, it seems like these family celebrations just keep getting bigger and bigger. The budget for the average wedding in the U.S. is just over $20,000, but other events are certainly catching up. Even a down economy hasn’t kept spending down. I even know one mom who spent more than a thousand dollars on her daughter’s second birthday.
The idea seems to be that if you throw enough money at creating the perfect event, it will stand out as a wonderful memory for your family — more so, apparently, than if you spend less. While the question of making a perfect day seems to pop up most with weddings, it is present at coming of age events and other occasions, too. But we have to ask, is spending all of that money necessary?
Is a bar mitzvah any less a bar mitzvah without dinner for a couple hundred people? Is a quinceañera less a quinceañera without a live band? Of course not. Reining in a family celebration, though, is becoming increasingly difficult.
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When my dad was growing up on a farm, my grandfather made him and all my uncles work at the nearby sugar factory. The pay wasn’t that great, and the work was dirty and difficult. My grandfather had a motive for sending them to participate in this job.
“Do you like working there? No?” he asked. Then he continued, “Get an education. If you want a good job, you need to go to school and get a college degree.”
As a result, my dad and his brothers all excelled in education and earned advanced degrees with little surprises.
But, as my husband nears the end of his Ph.D. work, and as I stare at the Master’s diploma on my wall, I wonder if an advanced degree is really worth what you pay to get it. How cost efficient is even a four-year degree?
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How many of you actually track your spending and keep up with a budget?
A fair share of the emails that arrive at my inbox are budget related. Usually, it’s from those people who don’t want to start one, or ones who claim that they don’t need one. They’re looking for someone to tell them that there’s no need to track their spending. That they can get a free pass because of their unique circumstances.
As far as I am concerned, there are only two types of people who have no use for a budget.
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There is no way to avoid fueling up from time to time. How much you pay and how much you use is a variable dependent upon things like the time of year and how well you plan your excursions. Ensuring that your tires are properly inflated, your car is in good operating condition, and that you stay within the speed limit all help reduce your fuel usages. When combined with other basic strategies you should see some significant savings. Here are some more tips on a much needed topic: How do I save on gas and use less money?
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