A wedding is an exciting time. It’s a milestone that marks the beginning of the rest of your life together. But if you’re not careful, it’s also something that can cost many thousands of dollars. And it’s surprisingly easy for the costs of a wedding to ultimately climb into the tens of thousands of dollars.
As you’re starting out your life together the last thing you want to do is start it with debt, so it’s highly advisable to save all the money that you’ll need to cover your wedding costs. Before you say “I do,” create a plan to... Articles Tagged ‘saving money’
How to Save Money for a Wedding
A wedding is an exciting time. It’s a milestone that marks the beginning of the rest of your life together. But if you’re not careful, it’s also something that can cost many thousands of dollars. And it’s surprisingly easy for the costs of a wedding to ultimately climb into the tens of thousands of dollars.
As you’re starting out your life together the last thing you want to do is start it with debt, so it’s highly advisable to save all the money that you’ll need to cover your wedding costs. Before you say “I do,” create a plan to...
Sunday, August 4th, 2013
A wedding is an exciting time. It’s a milestone that marks the beginning of the rest of your life together. But if you’re not careful, it’s also something that can cost many thousands of dollars. And it’s surprisingly easy for the costs of a wedding to ultimately climb into the tens of thousands of dollars.
As you’re starting out your life together the last thing you want to do is start it with debt, so it’s highly advisable to save all the money that you’ll need to cover your wedding costs. Before you say “I do,” create a plan to... Banking Advice to Survive a Financial Setback
A well thought out plan is a prerequisite for reaching just about any financial goal you may have. Your plan will invariably involve making certain assumptions; both regarding things that are within your control, as well as externalities that you can do little about.
But sometimes the items outside of your control can take a turn for the worse and hit you with a financial setback. In fact, everyone is likely to paint counter these hurdles and stumbling blocks from time to time. The key is to work through them and to minimize the long-term financial damage.
Here is some...
Tuesday, June 25th, 2013
A well thought out plan is a prerequisite for reaching just about any financial goal you may have. Your plan will invariably involve making certain assumptions; both regarding things that are within your control, as well as externalities that you can do little about.
But sometimes the items outside of your control can take a turn for the worse and hit you with a financial setback. In fact, everyone is likely to paint counter these hurdles and stumbling blocks from time to time. The key is to work through them and to minimize the long-term financial damage.
Here is some... How to Find the Best CD Rates
When it comes to investing, Certificates of Deposit (or “CDs” for short) are among the best products for beginners. They are FDIC insured, which means that unlike stocks and bonds your principal investment is insured against loss. And in exchange for agreeing to keep your money on deposit for a term of a few months or years, the bank offers a higher interest rate than your standard savings account. Unfortunately CD rates are fairly low now, however they often pay more than the meager rates that are paid for savings accounts.
CDs are easy to understand and set up....
Thursday, June 20th, 2013
When it comes to investing, Certificates of Deposit (or “CDs” for short) are among the best products for beginners. They are FDIC insured, which means that unlike stocks and bonds your principal investment is insured against loss. And in exchange for agreeing to keep your money on deposit for a term of a few months or years, the bank offers a higher interest rate than your standard savings account. Unfortunately CD rates are fairly low now, however they often pay more than the meager rates that are paid for savings accounts.
CDs are easy to understand and set up.... When Should You Tap Into Your Emergency Savings Account?
If you’re following sound financial advice then you’ve built up a good-sized emergency savings account. And you’ve resisted the temptation to use this fund for splurges like a vacation or a new car. But you may have asked yourself when exactly it makes financial sense to go ahead and tap into that emergency savings account.
In general, you should be comfortable using your emergency savings for expenses that fall outside of a well considered budget plan. Even the best planned budgets can be hit with something unexpected.
Here are some examples of situations in which it would likely make sense...
Tuesday, May 28th, 2013
If you’re following sound financial advice then you’ve built up a good-sized emergency savings account. And you’ve resisted the temptation to use this fund for splurges like a vacation or a new car. But you may have asked yourself when exactly it makes financial sense to go ahead and tap into that emergency savings account.
In general, you should be comfortable using your emergency savings for expenses that fall outside of a well considered budget plan. Even the best planned budgets can be hit with something unexpected.
Here are some examples of situations in which it would likely make sense... 5 Best Places to Park Cash
Investing your long-term savings and retirement accounts will generally be the best way to maximize the value of those accounts over time. But you’ll always need to have a portion of your savings in a form that you can quickly spend, such as your emergency fund for example.
But having highly liquid accounts doesn’t necessarily mean cash, or at least not literally. After all, while you may want to keep a small supply of physical cash on hand, you certainly don’t want to keep tens of thousands of dollars from your emergency fund in cash in an envelope under your...
Friday, May 3rd, 2013
Investing your long-term savings and retirement accounts will generally be the best way to maximize the value of those accounts over time. But you’ll always need to have a portion of your savings in a form that you can quickly spend, such as your emergency fund for example.
But having highly liquid accounts doesn’t necessarily mean cash, or at least not literally. After all, while you may want to keep a small supply of physical cash on hand, you certainly don’t want to keep tens of thousands of dollars from your emergency fund in cash in an envelope under your... Time to Open a Money Market Account?
When you open a new savings or checking account at your local bank or credit union, you may be asked if you also want to open a money market account. Money market accounts are similar to savings accounts except that they generally offer higher interest rates, have a higher minimum balance requirement, and only allow you to make a few withdrawals each month.
If you’ve never had a money market account before, then you might not be familiar with the situations in which having such an account makes good financial sense.
Here are some instances in which it might be...
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013
When you open a new savings or checking account at your local bank or credit union, you may be asked if you also want to open a money market account. Money market accounts are similar to savings accounts except that they generally offer higher interest rates, have a higher minimum balance requirement, and only allow you to make a few withdrawals each month.
If you’ve never had a money market account before, then you might not be familiar with the situations in which having such an account makes good financial sense.
Here are some instances in which it might be... 10 Money Mistakes that Hurt Young Adults
It’s easy to make financial mistakes when just starting out. Even after graduating high school, trade school or college there are still going to be a lot of things that must be learned, particularly in the area of personal finance.
Money mistakes that a person makes when they are young can be some of the most devastating, even if the financial value of the mistake is relatively small. We’re constantly being evaluated through the activity on our credit reports, so mistakes that are made early in life can have a negative effect for many years.
Also, not focusing on saving...
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
It’s easy to make financial mistakes when just starting out. Even after graduating high school, trade school or college there are still going to be a lot of things that must be learned, particularly in the area of personal finance.
Money mistakes that a person makes when they are young can be some of the most devastating, even if the financial value of the mistake is relatively small. We’re constantly being evaluated through the activity on our credit reports, so mistakes that are made early in life can have a negative effect for many years.
Also, not focusing on saving... How to Use Cash Flow to Plan for the Future
Cash flow analysis is an underutilized but extremely important element of personal financial planning. In its most basic form, cash flow is a measure of an individual’s total income versus their total expenses over a certain period of time. By incorporating a number of different financial measures into a single number, cash flow can help an individual plan for their future.
If a consumer never calculated cash flow before, they shouldn’t spend countless hours making sure every last cent for every account is in their budget. The point of a cash flow analysis is simply to gain an understanding of...
Monday, February 4th, 2013
Cash flow analysis is an underutilized but extremely important element of personal financial planning. In its most basic form, cash flow is a measure of an individual’s total income versus their total expenses over a certain period of time. By incorporating a number of different financial measures into a single number, cash flow can help an individual plan for their future.
If a consumer never calculated cash flow before, they shouldn’t spend countless hours making sure every last cent for every account is in their budget. The point of a cash flow analysis is simply to gain an understanding of... How to Create Banking Habits That Support Financial Security
Friday, January 4th, 2013
We can count on a certain degree of assistance from our banks and brokerages to help us keep our finances secure. Long gone are the days when we could simply access our accounts online by logging in with our account numbers and a simple five or six digit password, as more of these institutions are now demanding multi-factor logins, and that we change our passwords at least every 90 days.
We can also protect our finances by creating a few positive banking habits. It might seem like a lot of work to implement some of them, but doing so will...
Is Your Bank Reducing Your Savings Balance With More Fees?
With banks and credit unions paying such low interest rates on savings accounts, it seems like it’s more difficult than ever to grow the balances in our accounts. Adding to the challenge of increasing the value of your savings account is the fact that many banks are starting to impose new fees on some types of savings accounts.
In addition, in light of recent legislation that regulates and prohibits banks from charging certain types of fees, or fees above certain amounts, some banks have created new fees in order to replace those lost fees.
Here are some ways that your...
Monday, November 19th, 2012
With banks and credit unions paying such low interest rates on savings accounts, it seems like it’s more difficult than ever to grow the balances in our accounts. Adding to the challenge of increasing the value of your savings account is the fact that many banks are starting to impose new fees on some types of savings accounts.
In addition, in light of recent legislation that regulates and prohibits banks from charging certain types of fees, or fees above certain amounts, some banks have created new fees in order to replace those lost fees.
Here are some ways that your... 
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