4 Finance Options to Avoid Like the Plague

October 15, 2008

When you watch your bills pile up month after month, it can be tempting to take advantage of short-term loans or other quick-fix financial options. But some of these tactics will leave you deeper in debt than when you began. To give yourself a fighting chance, avoid these four dubious debt solutions; they’re just not [...]

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Where to Find Funding When Banks Say No

October 15, 2008

Despite the economic climate, you’ve still got dreams for the future. If those dreams include starting your own business or taking out a loan to consolidate your personal debt, you might find it hard to stay optimistic when banks deny application after application. How can you raise the money to make your plans a reality? [...]

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How to Choose the Best Personal Financial Advisor

October 13, 2008

You’ve swapped your SUV for a more economical ride. You’ve started cooking meals at home and taking your lunch to work. You’ve clipped coupons until you’re blue in the face. Still, you’re having trouble paying your bills. If this is the case, it might be time for some professional intervention.
The thought of hiring a financial [...]

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The First Rule of Budgeting: Get Real!

October 9, 2008

Take a moment to reflect on your financial goals. Many people want a house, a car, and college educations for their kids. Others want a mansion, exotic foreign cars, and Ivy League educations for their kids. It’s fun to dream, but when it’s time to draw up a household budget, you need to get real.
Assess [...]

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Sticky Debt Scenarios and How to Survive Them

October 8, 2008

We’re all feeling the effects of the credit squeeze. Many people are staggering their way through a financial balancing act that only gets harder month after month. They have to choose which debts to deal with each month, and which ones to delay. Sometimes they have to dip into their retirement accounts to meet their [...]

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3 Ways to Shrink Your Debt, Starting Today

October 7, 2008

The cost of living is going up, and so is the average person’s amount of debt. More people are turning to loans and credit cards to make ends meet, but even those avenues of finance are becoming nearly impossible to obtain. If you need debt relief fast, start taking these steps today. You’ll be amazed [...]

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How to Play it Safe with Your Savings

October 6, 2008

Dark times have fallen on the economy, and it seems that messages of gloom and doom are everywhere. Stocks are falling, taking the value of 401K plans with them. And we won’t even get into the mortgage mess, rock-bottom home values, and constrictive credit squeeze. Millions of Americans have had to sit by and watch [...]

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How to Avoid or Minimize Overdraft Fees

October 2, 2008

We’ve all done it before: with one simple miscalculation of our checking account balance, we ended up with hundreds of dollars of overdraft fees. This kind of financial misstep is a downward spiral that can haunt an account holder for months. It’s hard to get back on your feet after shelling out hundreds of dollars [...]

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Don't Let Wall Street Woes Wreck Your 401k

October 1, 2008

Have you looked at your 401k statement lately? If so, you were probably disheartened to see how much money you’ve lost on stock-based investments in such a short amount of time. The trouble on Wall Street is making waves that can be felt all the way through our individual retirement accounts.
Though it’s tempting, pulling out [...]

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Some Debt Is Good. Chances Are, Yours Isn't.

September 30, 2008

Do you know someone who lives a debt-free life? If so, you should congratulate them; they’re becoming the exception to the rule. Most of us carry some form of debt, be it student loans, car notes, mortgages, or credit card bills. The bad news is that it’s easy to get overrun by debt. The good [...]

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