Today’s top story: How to stress test your retirement portfolio. Also in the news: Organizing your personal finances with online calculators, avoiding costly college financing mistakes, and five of the dumbest credit moves you shouldn’t make. Stress-test your retirement portfolio Can it withstand the pressure? 5 Online Calculators to Help Organize Your Personal Finances No […]
Recent Blog Posts
Does your kid need expensive SAT prep?
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I bought a fat paperback test prep book to help me study for the SAT (which, back then, was still known as the Scholarship Aptitude Test). I didn’t buy the book until after I’d already taking the SAT the first time. After studying, I took the test again–and did […]
Monday’s need-to-know money news
Today’s top story: How to pay off your student loan in four years or less. Also in the news: Affordable ways to help someone having a bad time, how healthy living could save you money, and an easy way to tell if you have good credit. 5 Tips For Paying Off Your Student Loans in […]
Q&A: Home equity loans, mortgages and retirement
Dear Liz: I wish to add a little more information for the retired individual who had trouble getting approved for a home equity loan because he had no regular income (although he had plenty of assets). I’d suggest consulting a mortgage broker, not a bank. An independent broker is not captive to one set of […]
Q&A: Helping retired parents refinance
Dear Liz: I am trying to help my retired parents refinance their home. Currently they are paying over 8% interest. (This loan should be illegal.) The problem is their credit score, which is around 536. They had a tax lien in 2004 (it has been paid off for over four years) and some minor credit […]
Money rules of thumb: Retirement edition
For every rule of thumb, there are hundreds of people who would quibble with it. We saw that just recently with a USA Today columnist who quantified exactly how much you need to save for retirement (his answer, via an analysis by T. Rowe Price: $82.28 a day). Lots of people didn’t like that the […]