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Money Questions? Just Ask Liz!

Award winning and nationally recognized personal finance columnist Liz Weston wants to help you get smarter about money. First time visitor? Start Here.

Recent Q&A

Q&A: Don’t need your RMD? Consider a QCD

June 9, 2025

Q&A: Timing a Social Security application

June 9, 2025

Q&A: Sharing an inherited house with your siblings? It can get complicated

June 9, 2025

Q&A: Selling a house? Don’t confuse the tax rules

June 2, 2025

Q&A: Delaying Medicare enrollment? What to know

June 2, 2025

Q&A: Retirement planning for late starters

May 26, 2025

More Q&A Posts

Recent Blog Posts

June 9, 2025 By Liz Weston Leave a Comment

Q&A: Don’t need your RMD? Consider a QCD

Dear Liz: When you’re writing about required minimum distributions from retirement accounts, please make sure people know about qualified charitable distributions. Those of us lucky enough not to need the money can donate it directly from an IRA to the nonprofits of our choice. That way, we don’t even have it in our income column, […]

June 9, 2025 By Liz Weston Leave a Comment

Q&A: Timing a Social Security application

Dear Liz: I know you work to maximize people’s money. I had a thought about the quality of life with Social Security. I took it at 65, which was then full retirement age. I was fully employed and did not need it to live. However, the extra money allowed us the opportunity to travel to […]

June 9, 2025 By Liz Weston Leave a Comment

Q&A: Sharing an inherited house with your siblings? It can get complicated

Dear Liz: My husband’s parents, who are 88 and 93, respectively, have decided to leave their house, worth $800,000, equally, to their three children, who are all in their sixties. The children get along well and all decisions will be made as a group. None of the adult children can afford to buy out the […]

June 2, 2025 By Liz Weston 1 Comment

Q&A: Selling a house? Don’t confuse the tax rules

Dear Liz: We read your recent column about capital gains and home sales. Our understanding is that if you sell and then buy a property of equal or greater value within the 180-day window, the basis for tax purposes is the purchase price, plus the $500,000 exemption, plus the improvements to the property, minus the […]

June 2, 2025 By Liz Weston Leave a Comment

Q&A: Delaying Medicare enrollment? What to know

Dear Liz: When my husband was approaching 65, he was employed and covered by a high-deductible healthcare plan with a health savings account by his employer. Neither his employer nor our local Social Security office had concrete advice on how to proceed about enrolling in Medicare, but after tremendous research, he eventually delayed enrollment. Now […]

May 26, 2025 By Liz Weston 1 Comment

Q&A: Retirement planning for late starters

Dear Liz: I am in my late 50s, married and woefully unprepared financially for my later years. I was a stay-at-home mom for many years. I now work almost full time but my employer has no 401(k) or profit sharing or really any benefits at all. I just started putting $8,000 (the catch-up amount) into […]

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Books

Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.

  • Your Credit Score: How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future (5th edition)

    Improve your credit score, for real, with the #1 best-selling guide you can trust! Today, a good credit score is essential for getting credit, getting a job, even getting car insurance or a cellphone. Now, best selling journalist Liz Pulliam Weston has thoroughly updated her top-selling guide to credit scores, with crucial new information for protecting (or rebuilding) yours.

  • Deal with Your Debt: Free Yourself from What You Owe

    Struggling with debt? Get realistic help that's actually useful.

    In this extensively updated guide, you can discover how to control and manage debt effectively. You'll learn which debts can actually help build wealth over time, and which are simply toxic. You'll find up-to-date, real-world strategies for assessing and paying off debt, money-saving insights on which debts to tackle first, and crucial information about everything from debt consolidation loans to credit scores and credit counseling. Weston offers practical guidelines for assessing how much debt is safe -- and compassionate, realistic guidance if you've gone beyond the safety zone. If you've ever worried about debt, you'll find the new edition of Deal with Your Debt absolutely indispensable.

  • There Are No Dumb Questions About Money: Answers and Advice to Help You Make the Most of Your Finances

    There’s a myth in our society that some people are just naturally “good” with money. So naturally, everybody else must be “bad”--or at least, dumb--if they’re not sure what to do. 

    The reality is, no one is born a money expert. Those who are “good” with money had to learn: by reading, asking questions, and consulting people who know more than they do. No one knows everything, and the only dumb questions are the ones you don’t ask.

    This collection of money questions and answers can help you solve your most pressing concerns about your finances. You can buy this ebook on iTunes or on Amazon.

  • The 10 Commandments of Money: Survive and Thrive in the New Economy

    From the #1 personal finance columnist on the Internet (Nielsen/NetRatings)-a clear prescription for financial health in the 2010s and beyond. 

    For previous generations, living within your means was a simple formula. Now, with the staggering rise in education, health care, and housing costs, millions of people find themselves skating from paycheck to paycheck with no idea how to move forward.

    As the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet, Liz Weston has heard the questions and has the answers. Her 10 Commandments of Money will help readers avoid critical mistakes, survive the bad times, and thrive in the good ones.

  • Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life

    Common sense. Easy solutions. Plain English.

    Best selling author, Liz Weston, takes on the problem everyone has, and nobody talks about: the sheer hassle of managing your money! Weston offers practical guidance and easy checklists for every decision: investments, credit cards, insurance, mortgages, retirement, college savings, and more! Discover how to consolidate, delegate, and automate your finances…save time and money…and live a more rewarding, secure life!

Speaking

"Just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed hearing you speak last night. I have been a big fan of yours for years and couldn't wait to see you live...Thanks for so generously sharing your time and expertise with us last evening. I gained much from your presentation." -- Barbara R. Peter, Michigan

"It has been our pleasure to have Liz speak on various panels over the years at numerous conferences Bankrate has hosted. She’s an entertaining and engaging speaker, besides being an expert on saving money, budgeting and other money topics. She’s a preeminent source of expertise for today’s consumer, as well as a wealth of knowledge for those in the industry." -- Tara Bauries, Marketing Manager at Bankrate, Inc.

"My organization had the opportunity of hosting Liz for two financial presentations. She was extremely knowledgeable, articulate and personable. I would strongly recommend her for any event." -- Trenton M. Smiley, Community Relations Officer, Genesee District Library System

"Liz makes financial presentations easy to understand and relatable to real life experiences. She brings great energy to event programs!" -- Suzanne Patrick-Lawrence, Financial Planning Association, San Gabriel Valley Board Chair and President & CEO of Advisor Business Solutions

Would you like to have Liz speak to your convention, professional group or other large gathering? Liz is an expert on many financial and economic topics, including credit and credit scoring, retirement saving and investing, college savings strategies and student loans, women and money, and how economic trends can affect your investments.

Contact Liz regarding a speaking engagement. Please let us know the details—which group, when and where—along with the expected number of attendees.

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