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Monday’s need-to-know money news

January 6, 2014 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: Improving your budget in 2014. Also in the news: The little things that are killing your budget, eliminating excuse making, and how to start digging out from under holiday bills. Credit card background

How to Budget Better in the New Year
Smart budgeting is essential to your financial health.

5 Small Things That Are Killing Your Budget
All those $5.00 subscription fees add up quickly.

11 Money Excuses to Stop Making in 2014
Cross these excuses off of your list.

How To Recover From Your Holiday Spending
Don’t let the holidays haunt you through the New Year.

4 Ways to Protect Your Money
Insurance, insurance, insurance.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: budgets, excuses, holiday spending, Insurance, tips

Friday’s need-to-know money news

January 3, 2014 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: Assessing the damage created by holiday spending. Also in the news: Stress testing your personal finances, New Year’s resolutions for baby boomers, and finding help with getting out of debt.

Did the Holidays Hurt Your Credit?
Analyzing the Christmas carnage.

Stress-Testing Our Personal Finances
Preparing your finances for unexpected crises.

New Year’s Resolutions Boomers Should Make
Establishing better financial habits.

8 Tips to Find Help With Your Debt
You don’t have to do it alone.

The Best Online Tools for Your Housing Search
Your new home could be just a click away.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: Credit Cards, debt, habits, holiday spending, housing search, online tools

Starting over in your 50s, and other curveballs

January 3, 2014 By Liz Weston

Man Seeking EmploymentLosing a job late in life can be devastating, and rebuilding can be tough. Here’s how writer Teresa Mears puts it:

Americans in their 50s and 60s, who expected to be at the peak of their careers before retirement, are finding themselves playing catch-up. While they may never get back the lives they had before, there are steps they can take to improve their retirement prospects.

Jean Chatzky and I offer advice about those steps in “10 ways to get your retirement plan back on track.”

Job losses can have another side effect, besides derailing your retirement: they also can derail your credit scores. I talked to Kelley Holland for CNBC about why that matters and what you can do about it in “What your poor credit rating is costing you.”

I also discusses debt for a series of interviews with Spectrem’s Millionaire Corner, including “Debt is Not Just a Four-Letter Word,” “What Every Buyer ‘Auto” Know about Car Loans” and “You Don’t Want to Overdose on Student Loan Debt.”

Speaking of student loan debt, there are ways to erase some of your federal education loans—but too many people don’t know what they are. Read more in “5 ways do-gooders can erase student loan debt.”

My other recent education columns for Reuters including “Debunking the myth of college rejection rates,”  “3 ways to fix financial aid form flaws” and “That break from college? Stopping out leads to dropping out.”

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: college, Credit Scores, debt, education, job loss, Millionaire Corner, unemployment

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

January 2, 2014 By Liz Weston

Happy New Year!

Today’s top story: How to start 2014 on the right financial foot. Also in the news: A millennial’s guide to personal finance, ways to cut taxes while saving for retirement, and apps that will help you reach your financial goals for the new year.smartphones_finance

7 Tips to Get Your New Year’s Money Resolution Started Off Right
You’re going to want to stick to these.

The Millennial’s Guide to Personal Finance
Time to start taking your finances seriously.

3 ways to cut taxes while saving for retirement
Paying attention to your tax bracket.

5 Apps to Help Keep Your 2014 Financial Goals
Track your finances in between rounds of Candy Crush.

How Inflation Will Cut Your Taxes in 2014
New year, new adjustments.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: apps, inflation, millennials, resolutions, Retirement, retirement savings, Taxes

3 steps to less money stress in 2014

December 31, 2013 By Liz Weston

PoiseIf you’re stressing about holiday bills and other year-end expenses, the following suggestions might help you have a better 2014:

Try a no-spend month. The first time I led a “no spend” experiment at MSN nearly a decade ago, readers reported saving hundreds of dollars. But the bigger benefit was their increased awareness at how often they buy stuff unnecessarily—because they were bored or stressed or simply didn’t take the time to find a spend-free alternative.

The rules for a no-spend month are pretty flexible, but generally you stick to buying only essentials. For us, that means replacing the milk or toilet paper or anything else we’re about to run out of, but otherwise making meals out of what we already have stocked. We put on temporary hold any eating out, trips to the movies and shopping trips; plus I stay away from deal sites for a month. I’ve even adapted the rules to deal with business travel, since I often have a trip or two planned during the month: I spend if it’s a legitimate business expense, such as meals or lodging; otherwise, I make do.

Set up savings buckets. Think about the year ahead and the big, non-monthly expenses you’ll face. For us, that typically means property taxes in April and December; vacation expenses in March (spring break) and August; back-to-school shopping in July; life insurance premiums in October and holiday costs in November and December. Divide each expense by the number of paychecks you have until the cost is incurred, and start putting that much aside each payday in a designated bank account. (Most online banks allow you to set up designated “subaccounts” to keep the money separated.) Once the event is paid for, adjust your transfers to reflect the remaining period until the expense rolls around again. For example: you have three months, or about six paychecks, to save for a spring break trip. If you expect to spend $3,000, you’d need to put aside $1,000 a month or $500 a paycheck. Starting in April, you’d adjust the transfers to reflect the fact you have 12 months to pay for the next trip, so you’d put aside $250 a month or $125 per paycheck.

Obviously, savings buckets work when you’re not living paycheck-to-paycheck. If you’re spending every dime you make on monthly expenses, you won’t have anything left over for the inevitable extra expenses that come along. If that describes your situation, read “Why you need $500 in the bank” to start.

Drop one bad habit. We’ve all got them. A lot of them cost money and some are bad for our health to boot, like smoking, drinking too much or eating junk food. Whatever your vice, consider kicking the habit, or at least doing without it for a month and seeing what that does for your bank account (and your body).

It’s all about balance: balancing our desire to live for today with the needs to pay off the past (debt) and provide for the future (savings). Incorporating all three goals in our financial plans can help us achieve the balanced, less-stressed life we want.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: money stress, saving money, Savings, savings buckets

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

December 31, 2013 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: The scary statistics of identity theft. Also in the news: A money checklist for 2014, financial resolutions for the new year, and what will cost more in ’14.

These Identity Theft Statistics Are Even Scarier Than You’d Expect
Don’t become a statistic.

Your New Year Money Checklist
Preparing your money for the new year.

5 Financial Resolutions You Need to Make
And stick to!

6 Things That Will Cost More in 2014
Chocolate!

7 Ways To Be Better At Your Job In 2014
What you can do to increase your job security.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: 2014, cost increases, financial resolutions, Identity Theft, money resolutions, resolutions

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