Get smart with your money
Today’s top story: How to cash in on short-term rentals like Airbnb. Also in the news: How to get your business out of debt in five steps, and how to make to make the most of your summer vacation.
How to Cash In on Short-Term Rentals Like Airbnb, VRBO
Generating extra income with your extra bedroom.
How to Get Your Business Out of Debt in 5 Steps
Taking the first step.
How to Make the Most of Your Summer Job
Put aside some cash.
Today’s top story: The high cost of bad credit. Also in the news: 5 tips to finding a cheaper flight, auto-paying bills by credit card, and United States workers are losing out on billions of dollars in pay.
How Costly Is Bad Credit? Many Don’t Know, Survey Shows
Ignorance isn’t bliss.
5 Tips to Find a Cheap Flight
Saving a little extra.
Auto-Paying Bills by Credit Card: Help or Hassle? Yes.
It can be both.
Every year, U.S. workers lose out on billions in pay
Getting what you deserve.
Today’s top story: A guide to who needs life insurance. Also in the news: Budgeting for new parents, planning a summer family vacation, and how to still afford a house while spending all your money on avocado toast.
A Guide to Who Needs Life Insurance
Do you?
Budgeting for New Parents: From Day Care to College
Covering the next 20+ years.
It’s Not Too Late to Plan a Summer Family Vacation
Plenty of time still left.
How to Afford a House When You’re Spending All Your Money on Avocado Toast
You can keep your toast, Millennials.
Some financial disasters are a long time in the making. It typically takes years of unfortunate choices — minimum credit card payments, forgone savings opportunities — to create suffocating debt or a poverty-level retirement.
Other disasters you can trigger almost instantly. The decision itself costs money, or the clock starts ticking toward a consequence you might not have foreseen. In my latest for the Associated Press, three common ways to trash your finances fast, plus how you may be able to undo or limit the damage.
Today’s top story: How credit card bonuses got so big and hard to grab. Also in the news: VA Loan eligibility and requirements for 2017, how to detect scams that could ruin your retirement, and 10 numbers that may make or break your retirement.
How Credit Card Bonuses Got So Big and Hard to Grab
And you thought blackout dates were bad.
VA Loan Eligibility and Requirements for 2017
What you need to know.
How to Detect Scams That Could Ruin Your Retirement
Don’t put your savings at risk.
10 numbers that can make or break your retirement
Focus on the important ones.
Dear Liz: My FICO score is just under 800. The reason given that it is not higher is that I don’t have any non-mortgage leases. What would be the cheapest way to remedy this without buying something expensive?
Answer: When you get your credit scores, you may be given sometimes-vague reasons for why they’re not higher or lower. The “reason code” you saw probably said something like “no recent non-mortgage balance information.” What that means is that you haven’t been using revolving accounts such as credit cards. To get higher scores, you’d need to dust off your plastic and use it once in a while. (You don’t need to carry a balance to get or keep good scores, however. You can and should pay credit card balances in full each month.)
Any improvement in your scores is likely to be modest, however. Your numbers are already high and the factor known as “mix of credit” — which means responsibly using both revolving and installment accounts — accounts for just 10% of your FICO scores. Plus, there’s no real point in having scores over 800, other than to brag about them. Once your scores exceed 760 or so, you’re already eligible for the best rates and terms.