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personal finance

Monday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: The No-Drama approach to personal finance. Also in the news: Hiking your savings rate, how to find the right credit card the right way, and why you should beware of mortgage companies offering to double your down payment.

The No-Drama Approach to Personal Finance
There’s no crying in personal finance.

If the Fed Can, So Can You: Hike Your Savings Rate
Finding a high-yield account.

Sean Talks Money: Find the Right Credit Card the Right Way
Be selective.

This company will double your down payment. What’s the catch?
It’s a big one.

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

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financial-toolboxToday’s top story: 7 ways to improve your finances in 2017. Also in the news: How to help your kid graduate from college debt-free, how rising home values can boost your mortgage refinance, and why Americans are blowing it when it comes to personal finance.

7 Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2017
Making the most of the new year.

Help Your Kid Graduate From College Debt-Free
The greatest graduation gift of them all.

Rising Home Values Can Boost Your Mortgage Refinance
You could be able to tap your home equity.

Americans are blowing it on personal finance
Making financial literacy one of your goals.

A president can’t fix your finances

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Presidential candidates always promise economic improvements that are beyond their power to deliver. Any measures that actually could create more jobs, raise wages or lower tax burdens require the cooperation of Congress or business cycles or both.

Even if a president could lead us to the promised land of rising incomes and wealth, we wouldn’t get there overnight. America’s middle class has been wandering the economic desert for decades, and it will take years of better fortunes to restore what’s been taken away.

“Our economy is so large that both good and bad impacts are not seen until years or even a decade later,” said Michael Kitces, director of wealth management at Pinnacle Advisory Group in Columbia, Maryland.

That doesn’t mean you have to wait. In my latest for the Associated Press, what you can do to improve your own personal fortunes rather than wait for some politician to bail you out.

Money Lessons That Actually Stick

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Efforts to make us smarter about money don’t seem to be working.

A Harvard Business School study found personal finance classes taught in high school had no effect on “financial outcomes,” such as how much people saved or how likely they were to miss payments on debt. A report for Management Science found that even intensive instruction had “negligible effects” on people’s behavior. That’s led some critics to say financial literacy education doesn’t work.

But other research has found methods that show promise. If you want to improve your relationship with money or teach your children about personal finance, these findings may help you do just that.

In my latest for the Associated Press, how to best improve your relationship with money and pass that knowledge to your children.

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

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FICO-score-calculation-300x281Today’s top story: Applying for the wrong credit cards can make bad credit worse. Also in the news: Store reward programs worthwhileness, preschoolers and personal finance, and the #1 cause of financial stress in your state.

Applying for the Wrong Credit Cards Can Just Make Bad Credit Worse
Be selective.

Are Store Rewards Programs Worthwhile?
Only if you’ll actually use the benefits.

Should Preschoolers Be Taught Personal Finance?
It’s never too early to start.

This is the No. 1 cause of financial stress in your state
Odds are pretty good your state is worried about debt.

Americans Are Pissed — This Chart Might Explain Why

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iStock_000087400741_SmallPeople are angry. Voters demanding change have helped make Donald Trump the presumptive Republican nominee for president and fueled Bernie Sanders’ ferocious challenge to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But what are they angry about? Ask and you’ll hear about Washington gridlock, Wall Street greed, trade, stagnant pay, immigration. In my latest for NerdWallet, the one huge factor that’s making this election especially unique.