Get smart with your money
Today’s top story: Tips to save more for retirement in 2017. Also in the news: Why the key to saving may be in your head, why skipping a payment at the holidays is a bad idea, and a guide to holiday tipping.
Retirement Anxiety? 3 Tips to Save More in 2017
Starting the new year off on the right foot.
The Key to Saving May Be in Your Head
Time to look inward.
Skip a Payment? Those Offers Are No Holiday for Your Budget
Reading the fine print.
Tips on Holiday Tipping
Who and how much?
I’m giving away a copy of Michael F. Kay’s The Feel Rich Project: Reinventing Your Understanding of True Wealth to Find True Happiness.
“Feeling rich is the difference between just existing and being gloriously, deeply, passionately alive, living the very best life you were born to lead.
What does feeling rich have to do with actually being rich? Plenty, it turns out. Your beliefs and feelings about money drive how you see yourself and how you define “rich.”
To enter to win, leave a comment here on my blog (not my Facebook page). Make sure to include your email address, which won’t show up with your comment, but I’ll be able to see it. Comments are moderated, so it may take a little while for your comment to show up.
The winners will be chosen at random Friday night. Over the weekend, please check your email (including your spam filter). If I don’t hear from a winner by noon Pacific time on Monday, his or her prize will be forfeited and I’ll pick another winner.
Also, check back here often for other giveaways.
The deadline to enter is midnight Pacific time on Friday. So–comment away!
Today’s top story: How to find and finance bank-owned properties. Also in the news: Tips for handling holiday financial stress, how to have the money talk with your parents, and what to do when financial aid and scholarships don’t fully cover course fees.
How to find and finance bank-owned properties
It’s easier than you might think.
5 tips for handling holiday financial stress
Don’t let stress ruin the holidays.
How to have the ‘money talk’ with your parents
Tackling a difficult subject.
Financial Aid and Scholarships Don’t Always Cover Course Fees
Making sure you can cover your costs.
Money is money, whether it’s cash in our hands, plastic cards at checkout counters or encrypted bits of data coursing between computers on the internet.
But our brains don’t view all money as equal, thanks to what behavioral economists call “cognitive biases”:
—We spend cash more carefully than plastic.
—We regard tax refunds as a windfall rather than a return of what we earned.
—We’d rather have money now than more money later.
Sometimes our illusions about money can be harnessed for good. The “Save More Tomorrow” program, created by economists Richard H. Thaler and Shlomo Benartzi, has people commit to increasing their retirement contributions starting one year in the future. In the economists’ initial study , workers who agreed to save future dollars nearly quadrupled their savings rate in four years.
In my latest for the Associated Press, why our money illusions usually work against us.
Today’s top story: A good retirement savings option for the self-employed. Also in the news: Jobs that could mark you as a risk for late payments, what to ask before giving a cell phone as a gift, and the financial perks of not celebrating Christmas.
A Good Retirement Savings Option for the Self-Employed
Consider a Solo 401(k).
Study: These Jobs Could Mark You as a Risk for Late Payments on Personal Loans
Is yours on the list?
Ask These Questions Before Giving a Cell Phone This Season
What you need to know before making a purchase.
The Financial Perks of Not Celebrating Christmas
The upside to being The Grinch.
Today’s top story: Manage your debt for a smoother divorce. Also in the news: Giving your child the gift of stocks, how to donate credit card points and miles to charity, and six ways to make the most of your holiday bonus.
Manage Your Debt for a Smoother Divorce
Making a difficult situation a bit easier.
Give Your Child the Gift of Stocks
The gift that keeps on giving.
How to Donate Credit Card Points, Miles or Cash Back to Charity
Put those forgotten miles to good use.
6 Ways to Make the Most of Your Holiday Bonus
Stretching it out.