Get to Know Your Checking Account
Your checking account is a transactional account - meaning funds go in and out regularly. While the name checking account stems from the checks that one would receive when opening an account, nowadays many consumers choose to use a debit card instead of and/or in addition to a checkbook.
Building a Budget
Budgeting is a skill that helps you make smart decisions with your money. It ensures that you’re spending less than you earn, it prepares you for life’s curveballs, and it funds your goals and your dreams. Unfortunately, budgeting is often seen as restrictive and overwhelming. Financial priorities are deeply personal, so it can be challenging to find the right combination of strategies and tools that work for you.
Good vs. Bad Spending
When you start looking for financial advice (or any kind of advice, for that matter), experts will share their take on what’s “good” and what’s “bad.” In personal finance, there are some classifications that we can all agree on: Debt is bad. Emergency funds are good. Overdrawing your account is bad. Earning interest on your savings is good.
Comparing Cards
It’s a decision that comes into play for every bill you pay, every tank of gas you buy and every coffee you pick up on the way to class or work. Cash, check or card? Debit, credit or prepaid debit? Different forms of payment are just different ways to access funds, so what difference does it really make if you put your breakfast sandwich on credit instead of debit?
Loan Basics
Loans help finance some of our biggest goals in life. They can provide access to possibilities that we can’t afford upfront—possibilities like going to school, buying a home or starting a business. The good news is that you can choose the loan that’s right for you: a loan you can afford, from a reputable lender, with a payment schedule that makes sense.
Credit Scores
A credit score is a number (usually between 300 and 850) that represents your creditworthiness. It’s a standardized measurement that financial institutions and credit card companies use to determine risk level when considering issuing you a loan or a credit card. Basically, it provides a snapshot of how likely you are to repay your debts on time. Widespread use of credit scores has made credit more widely available and less expensive for many consumers.
Buying a Used Car
When buying a used car, you may not be able to choose the exact features like you can when buying a new car, but you do get the benefit of it likely costing less to register and insure because it is older and has already depreciated in value.
Leasing vs. Buying a New Car
When it comes to buying a new car, you have three options: purchasing it with cash, purchasing it through a loan (also known as financing) or leasing it. For most shoppers, the decision comes down to buying or leasing.
Emergency Fund Boot Camp
An emergency fund is an essential part of your personal finances. Its importance is stressed in almost every personal finance book and budgeting blog, and yet 26% of Americans currently have no emergency fund in place. Of those who do have an emergency fund, up to two-thirds do not have the often-recommended six months’ worth of expenses saved up.
Living on Your Own
Living on your own for the first time can be empowering. It means having independence and all the things that come with it. Some of those things—like not having to share a bathroom—are wonderful. Others—like killing spiders yourself—are not so fun. And leading the pack in the not-so-fun category: bills.
Foiling Identity Theft
Identity theft is nothing new, and yet it still manages to cost its victims billions of dollars globally each year. The good news is that there are tons of things you can do to deter identity thieves. The bad news is that many of us do little beyond choosing a decent password—and some people don’t even bother doing that!
How to Spot Scams
Unfortunately, mass marketing scams persist because they work—at least enough to justify the attempts made. In a 2015 Data Breach Investigation report conducted by Verizon, it was found that it takes an average of 82 seconds from the time a phishing campaign is launched for the first victim to fall for the trap. How is it that scammers are able to trick the average person into making costly mistakes?
