If you’ve been following along, you already know why it’s important to focus on building up your emergency fund if you’re worried about the future. Now it’s time to figure out a way to boost your account even more. Today, consider gamifying your savings to stash away more. Gamification, or adding elements from game playing, […]
When it comes to finances, most of us could do with some extra help to make our money stretch a little further. Many people find that they have very little disposable income left after making all the essential payments – and there are some who struggle to even meet their essential payments. This includes housing […]
Since the Federal Reserve slashed the federal funds rate to near zero in March, yields on certificates of deposit have been tumbling. “Unfortunately for savers, we will return to the ultra-low interest earnings that prevailed for years following the 2008 financial crisis,” said Greg McBride, a senior vice president and chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. […]
By some estimates, you make 35,000 different decisions in a single day. You make choices about what to eat, what to wear, how you spend your time, and, of course, how you spend your money. Across those topics, there’s a recurring conflict between the right decision and the most enjoyable decision. Fresh fruit smoothie or […]
When a loved one passes away, it’s not unusual for the person to leave some unpaid debt behind. The question for the surviving spouse or other heirs is often: What happens to those obligations? Generally speaking, it depends on both the type of debt and applicable state laws. When someone dies, their assets — no […]
Using the portfolio return and volatility assumptions determined in Exhibit 1.1, we then reverse engineer fixed return assumptions and sustainable spending levels for a desired retirement time horizon and targeted probability of success. The investment portfolio is modeled using 100,000 Monte Carlo simulations for these portfolio returns, assuming a lognormal distribution. Exhibit 1.2 presents the implied […]
When your credit score or income is low or you’re just starting out, a bank or credit union may require that you have a cosigner to take out a personal loan. It’s their way of protecting their risk by getting a guarantee. If you’re the person a family member or friend asks to be the personal loan cosigner, however, you […]
Kara Stevens recalls her credit score at its lowest point being somewhere in the low 600′s. When asked to pull her latest score for this story, her score by Equifax (one of the three main credit bureaus) calculated an “excellent” 766 using the VantageScore 3.0 model. Below, Stevens, who is founder of the personal finance […]
The longer this time of self-isolation goes on, the worse things get for some Brazos Valley families. Residents are losing their jobs, being furloughed, or getting their hours cut–all while millions are still waiting on their federal stimulus checks to come through. As the financial situation becomes dire for many, Nathan Harness, TD Ameritrade Director […]
Debt is a financial drag. But digging out from a blizzard of bills requires a plan no matter what’s happening in your life. The good news is the money you owe doesn’t have to be paid back overnight. One debt-reduction strategy worth considering is the “debt-snowball” method made popular by personal finance expert Dave Ramsey. […]
For some people, retirement represents the chance to try something different or embrace a lifestyle that previously was impractical or unattainable. You might dream about settling down abroad, traveling the world, relaxing at a beach house, or buying an RV to explore the country. Before you go all in on what you think is your […]
The cost of living in California is so expensive that state lawmakers have a new proposal to help pay for it by giving away money. It may sound too good to be true, but as of Friday, the idea is officially a state bill that is moving through the state legislature. But how is California […]
