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Get smart with your money

debt

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Brace yourself for higher car insurance rates. Also in the news: Making biweekly mortgage payments, paying down debt with extra payments, and the two stressful views about money half of millennials share.

Brace Yourself for Higher Car Insurance Rates
Why rates continue to climb.

Should You Make Biweekly Mortgage Payments?
What you need to know before switching.

How I Ditched Debt: Extra Payments Became Her Obsession
Chipping away bit by bit.

Half of millennials share two stressful views about money
Student loan debt causes great angst.

Stop counting other people’s money

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Your neighbor pulls up in a sweet new ride. Your co-worker announces she’s taking yet another trip abroad. Your best friend upgrades to a bigger house in a better area of town.

You’re pretty sure these people don’t make a lot more than you do.

So how are they able to spend that kind of money?

Maybe they’re up to their ears in debt, or they’re trust fund babies, or they’ll never be able to retire. Or maybe they’ve figured out the secret to money, which is: You can have anything you want. You just can’t have everything.

The new car, that house and that exotic trip are the shiny end results of a series of decisions hidden below the surface. What we don’t see, typically, are the trade-offs – or their consequences.

In my latest for the Associated Press, why you need to focus on your own finances instead of counting other people’s money.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: 5 debt questions you’re afraid to ask. Also in the news: The best accounts for short-term savings, the 10 most-stolen cars and the cost of theft insurance, and what happens when your bank loses a cash deposit.

5 Debt Questions You’re Afraid to Ask
We have the answers.

Best Accounts for Short-Term Savings
It depends on your timeline.

The 10 Most-Stolen Cars and the Cost of Theft Insurance
Is yours on the list?

What Happens When Your Bank Loses a Cash Deposit
Keep copies of everything.

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Learning how to ditch debt. Also in the news: How to prepare for the change from corporate career to entrepreneur, how to teach your kids to be better with money than you are, and why Millennials are paying attention to their 401(k)s.

How I Ditched Debt: Making Sense of Cents
Every penny counts.

Corporate Career to Entrepreneur: How to Prep for the Leap
Making a big change.

How to teach your kids to be better with money than you are
Learning from your mistakes.

Millennials may be far from retirement, but think ahead with 401(k)
Planning for the future.

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: What would you give up to be debt free? Also in the news: What to know about alternative investments, what to buy (and skip) in August, and how money can actually buy happiness.

What Would You Give Up to Be Debt-Free?
Making sacrifices.

Alternative Investments: What to Know Before You Buy
Investments beyond stocks.

What to Buy (and Skip) in August
Preparing for back-to-school.

Yes, you can buy happiness … if you spend it to save time
Spending it the right way.

How debt consolidation can go wrong

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Daniel Montville knew a debt consolidation loan wouldn’t solve his financial problems, but the hospice nurse hoped it would give him some breathing room. He had already filed for bankruptcy once, in 2005, and was determined not to do it again.

Montville took out the loan in 2015, but within a year he had fallen behind on its payments and on the payday loans he got to help his daughter, a single mother with four children. The payday lenders all but cleaned out his checking account each time a paycheck landed, leaving little money for necessities. Then his daughter lost her job, and the $5,000 tax refund she had promised to him as repayment went instead to supporting her kids.

“That’s when I wised up and realized this was a no-win situation,” says Montville, 49, of Parma, Ohio. Montville is now repaying his creditors under a five-year Chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plan.

In my latest for the Associated Press, learn why debt consolidation isn’t always the best idea.