Get smart with your money
Today’s top story: Dodge these 5 tax mistakes. Also in the news: How to pay for expensive transgender surgeries, how to lower your energy bill, and the rare instances when student loans can be forgiven.
Dodge These 5 Tax Mistakes
Common mistakes to avoid.
How to Pay for Expensive Transgender Surgeries
Exploring the options.
How to Lower Your Energy Bill
Examining the physics behind your energy use.
These Are the Rare Instances in Which Student Loans Can Be Forgiven
Very rare.
Today’s top story: Don’t skip life insurance because of cost when having a baby. Also in the news: Wells Fargo could owe you money, crooks are targeting ATMs, and what you need to know about special needs financial planning.
Having a Baby? Don’t Skip Life Insurance Because of Cost
The sooner the better.
$110 Million Wells Fargo Payout Could Put Money in Your Pocket
If you got caught up in the fake fees scam, it’s time to get your money back.
Better Check Your Balance: Crooks Targeting ATMs
The return of the skimmers.
What to Know About Special Needs Financial Planning
Preparing for the unknown.
Today’s top story: Victim of ‘Divorce Season’? Protect Your Finances. Also in the news: Mixing up these student loan terms could cost you, why deductions aren’t the only way to save on real estate taxes, and why you still need to cut up your canceled credit cards.
Victim of ‘Divorce Season’? Protect Your Finances
March and August are bad months for marriage.
Mixing Up These Student Loan Terms Could Cost You
Know your student loan vocabulary.
Deductions Aren’t the Only Way to Save on Real Estate Taxes
Alternative tax incentives.
Do You Still Need to Cut Up Your Canceled Credit Cards?
Get the scissors.
Today’s top story: 4 ways to manage the cost of raising a baby. Also in the news: How to take advantageof post-purchase price drops, SelfScore launches rewards card for international students in the United States, and why bank tellers won’t become extinct any time soon.
4 Ways to Manage the Cost of Raising a Baby
They’re cute, but costly.
How to Take Advantage of Post-Purchase Price Drops
Getting back the difference.
SelfScore Launches Rewards Card for International Students in US
New rewards.
Why bank tellers won’t become extinct any time soon
Keeping it old school.
The same week legendary investor Warren Buffett put his California vacation house on the market, a friend told me her widowed mother had sold the family home in Cleveland.
Buffett bought his Laguna Beach place in 1971 for $150,000 and is asking $11 million. My friend’s parents bought their home for $24,500 in 1965 and just sold it for $104,000. Put another way: If Buffett gets his asking price, his house will have appreciated at an annual rate of 9.79 percent. The Cleveland house eked out a 2.82 percent annual return.
Neither buyer could have predicted what their homes would be worth now. One could score a healthy return, while the other didn’t even keep up with inflation. (If she had, her home would have been worth about $190,000.) In my latest for the Associated Press, how purchasing a home could be a gamble.
Today’s top story:
How to invest $50,000. Also in the news: Ditching student debt through monster payments, funding a wedding while paying student debt, and what we can learn from rich people who are bad with money.
How to Invest $50,000
Making the wise choices.
How I Ditched Student Debt: ‘Monster Payments’
Using monster payments to pay off your student debt faster.
Ask Brianna: How Can I Fund a Wedding and Pay Student Debt?
Managing two large expenses.
What We Can Learn From Rich People Who Are Bad With Money
Learning from other people’s mistakes.