Today’s top story: Bartenders spill secrets for keeping your tab in check. Also in the news: How a remodeling project changes your property tax bill, tips for back-to-school shopping, and how to use your bank’s automatic transfer tools to make budgeting easy. Bartenders Spill Secrets for Keeping Your Tab in Check Avoiding a financial hangover. […]
Recent Blog Posts
Why traditional credit scores still matter
Researchers and startups say all kinds of weird data can predict your creditworthiness. What kind of smartphone you have, who your friends are and how you answer survey questions may foretell how likely you are to pay back a loan. Don’t expect this alternative data to displace the three-digit number most lenders use, however. Credit […]
Monday’s need-to-know money news
Today’s top story: How to protect your money from criminals. Also in the news: How to fight about money and stay madly in love, how to have “the talk” about finances with your parents, and deciding to reroute some of your retirement savings to pay for a house. Banking Has Changed, but Criminals Haven’t — […]
Q&A: Mother-daughter drama and the financial ties that bind
Dear Liz: My mother is turning 92 this month. Due to a dispute, my mother amended her will last year and stated that my inheritance had to be used for a certain purpose. My brother sent me the amendment and told me he will enforce my mother’s wishes. He also told me that I had […]
Q&A: The effects of working after taking Social Security
Dear Liz: I didn’t pay much into Social Security and started drawing it at age 62. As a result my check wasn’t very much. If I start working now, will it increase my monthly benefit over the years? Answer: Yes, but the effect depends on a lot of factors. Social Security determines your benefit using […]
Q&A: Going without health insurance isn’t wise
Dear Liz: You recently wrote about early retirees going abroad for their pre-Medicare years in order to get more affordable healthcare coverage. Why did you not bother to even mention the COBRA option that is often available to workers upon retirement? And by the way, some of us prefer to self-insure in our pre-Medicare years […]