Debt panellist 1: Philip King, head of retail banking at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank You have done well in closing your previous cards by securing a personal loan. Cards usually carry substantial financing rates that can become a burden to the borrower if the balance is not cleared each month. Your high debt burden ratio […]
A few years ago, in one of my bolder proposals, I suggested that we eat the rich and take all their money. It was a surprisingly popular idea, immediately accepted by the vast majority of people who don’t consider themselves rich. The rich were surprisingly silent about the notion, perhaps because they were busy thinking […]
With healthcare growing more expensive by the minute, many working Americans and retirees alike are grappling with costly medical bills. If that sounds like you, then it pays to learn more about health savings accounts, or HSAs. These accounts let you save and invest money that can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses, […]
Here is what matters if you’ve made it and want to keep it. Do the financial markets have your attention? I assume so. After all, Wednesday’s 800-point drop in the Dow was the worst day in the U.S. stock market this year. And while many investors missed it, the December 2018 plunge in stock prices […]
Seniors will make a lot of important decisions, but few, if any, have as much bearing as deciding when to begin taking their Social Security retirement benefit. Every month, over 63 million people receive a benefit from the most successful social program in our nation’s history — and 70% of those recipients (and climbing) are […]
It’s reasonable to worry about retirement. After all, you’ll probably be living with less income than you enjoy today, and you can’t know how much certain future expenses will cost you. Health care, for example, takes hundreds of thousands of dollars out of many retirees’ pockets over the course of their lives. Fortunately, there are […]
Homeowners have been installing solar panels at a record pace, taking advantage of falling prices and a tax credit, which is slated to be phased out by 2022. Like computer chips, solar panels are getting more powerful, more efficient and cheaper every year, said Vikram Aggarwal, CEO of EnergySage.com, a consumer resource with loads of […]
It’s no secret that college costs a lot of money, but saving for that milestone in advance can help families avoid taking on unhealthy levels of student debt. Thankfully, 44% of parents have started to save for a college education before their child’s 11th birthday, according to a new Citizens Bank survey. The problem? Another 38% haven’t […]
Many financial experts recommend saving at least $1 million in order to live comfortably in retirement. But the average American believes that they need even more than that: $1.7 million, according to a recent survey from Charles Schwab, which looked at 1,000 participants in 401(k) plans nationwide. However, many people fall short of that goal. […]
Even as the U.S. economy Opens a New Window. strengthens, many Americans are struggling to stash away extra cash for a very important expense: retirement Opens a New Window. . Overall, 42 percent of Americans reported having no retirement savings at all, according to a 2018 survey from the Center for Financial Services Innovation. But […]
For women, the salary gap they face in their working years eventually turns into a retirement savings gap. Only about 6 in 10 women have a plan to keep them from outliving their savings once they retire, according to a recent study by Nationwide Advisory Solutions. Among men, it’s more than 3 out of 4. The firm […]
Who would imagine that you could get a wrong estimate of your Social Security benefits from — guess who — the Social Security Administration? The story is yet another reminder about how you need to double-check your numbers, take a hard look at what you’re being told and keep good records of previous Social Security […]
