Get smart with your money
Today’s top story: How to rack up points and miles with everyday spending. Also in the news: What to buy and skip in October, how to catch up on your savings, and why consumer instant gratification can prove risky.
How to Rack Up Points and Miles With Everyday Spending
Piling up miles wherever you go.
October is the Month to Buy Jeans, Grills and More
Behind on Your Savings? You’re Not Alone
There’s time to catch up.
Consumer instant gratification can prove risky
Staying within your means.
Today’s top story: Save more money for your next vacation with this simple trick. Also in the news: How LexisNexis identity mix-ups could be scrambling your finances, how to review your LexisNexis report and fix errors, and all the ways your credit card use reveals personal info.
Save More Money for Your Next Vacation With This Simple Trick
You won’t even miss the money.
LexisNexis Identity Mix-Ups Could Be Scrambling Your Finances
Your Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange could contain errors.
Check Yourself: How to Review Your LexisNexis Report and Fix Errors
Getting your information straight.
All The Ways Your Credit Card Use Reveals Personal Info
Privacy is a myth.
Today’s top story: Green Dot launches 3% cash back and savings account. Also in the news: Apps that could prompt impromptu spending, how to avoid lifestyle creep, and how to financially plan for having kids.
Green Dot Launches 3% Cash Back and Savings Account
A new offering from Green Dot.
These Types of Apps Could Prompt Impromptu Spending
You don’t need any help spending money.
Don’t Let Lifestyle Creep Sneak Up on You
Staying in your lifestyle lane.
How to Financially Plan for Having Kids
They’re both cute and costly.
Today’s top story: Don’t let lifestyle creep sneak up on you. Also in the news: 7 steps to buying a house, do you need a tax ID number, and how to make sure you don’t lose your credit card rewards when closing the card.
Don’t Let Lifestyle Creep Sneak Up on You
Living within your means.
What Is a Tax ID Number, and Do I Need One?
Going beyond your Social Security number.
Home Buying Checklist: 7 Steps to Buying a House
Making an important list.
How to Make Sure You Don’t Lose Your Credit Card Rewards When You Close the Card
Reading the fine print.
Today’s top story: Regretting your Equifax settlement choice? You can change it. Also in the news: What to buy (and skip) in August, considering CDs as savings interest rates fall, and how to wean your adult child off your credit cards.
Regrets About Your Equifax Settlement Choice? You Can Change It
You might want that credit monitoring after all.
What to Buy (and Skip) in August
Let the back-to-school shopping begin.
When Savings Rates Fall, CDs Might Appeal
Interest on savings is about to take a dive.
How to Wean Your Adult Child Off Your Credit Cards
Setting an expiration date.
As a spokesperson for the insurance industry, Loretta Worters often gives tips to homeowners on preventing water damage. Some of her knowledge comes from personal experience.
Worters says she had owned a home in Bellmore, New York, for only a month when she noticed the clothes washer in the basement was taking an awfully long time to fill.
“I went downstairs and I was up to my ankles in water,” says Worters, vice president of communications for the Insurance Information Institute.
Appliance and plumbing failures are a leading cause of household water damage, which is far more common than you may think. Homeowners are six times more likely to suffer property losses from water than from theft and seven times more likely than from fire, says Kelly Greene, a risk consulting manager from Chubb Personal Insurance who led a session on property damage at the Financial Planning Association NorCal conference in May. (“Water damage” is different from flooding, which is rising water that affects two or more properties.)
In my latest for the Associated Press, steps you can take to ensure your wealth doesn’t evaporate drip by drip.