If you want to get serious about taking control of your financial life so you can build wealth, it’s time to eliminate car payments. Car payments are a persistent nag on the lives of U.S. consumers. But they don’t have to be, and shouldn’t be even with low interest rates. Because they crush your monthly cash […]
One striking revelation from the presidential election process this year was the sharp contrast between people who think the U.S. is in pretty good shape and those who feel the country never recovered from the last recession. Politics aside, the U.S. is in its 89th straight month of economic expansion. The longest post-World-War-II economic expansion […]
Interest rates are rising from all-time low levels, but money is still cheap. The big banks are eager to lend money, but they’ve raised their lending standards since the banking crisis of 2007-2009. They prefer debt to be collateralized, making a home equity loan or HELOC an ideal product for consumers. The rates are hard […]
Long before I had my driver’s license, my Dad instilled an important financial concept into my head that I still abide by today. A car is nothing more than a tool to get from point A to point B. A car isn’t meant for prestige or to help score babes, although they’re often marketed that way. Cars […]
As a general rule, I am against using debt to buy things. Long ago my Dad explained that it is best to pay off credit cards every month. He told me this before I even understood what carrying a balance meant. The one exception I hold for debt usage in personal finance is real estate. […]
