Every so often, I get questions on the topic, so I want to clear up two myths about life insurance.

• Myth 1: Nobody needs life insurance in their twenties, but everybody needs life insurance when they get older.
• Myth 2: Certain types of life insurance are a smart way to build wealth.

Fact #1: You Need Life Insurance If (And Only If) You Have a Family

Don’t base the decision to purchase a life insurance policy on age. If you’re 24 and already have two children, unless you’re already wealthy, you should have life insurance. You may be healthy, but accidents happen, and the responsible thing to do is to leave your children with something. On the flip side, if you’re 25, 30, or even 45 and single, you do not need life insurance. If you kick the bucket, so what? Your salary wasn’t putting a roof over anybody’s head but your own. Read more…

Mar 19th, 2010 by David Weliver in Insurance
Comments (2) --- Add Yours!

Life is busy. With full time jobs, school, family, friends, pets, kids, appointments, and errands, we barely have enough time to relax, let alone keep our finances in order. Sometimes a hectic life is what really wreaks havoc on our finances; we become so busy that we forget about frugality and budgeting and just want to get things done without caring about the cost. Here are some tips to help you keep your finances in order when your life is anything but in order: Read more…

Mar 17th, 2010 by Carrie from "Carrie...On The Cheap" in Frugal Living
Comments (5) --- Add Yours!

Big banks only roll out totally new credit cards every couple of years (typically in an effort to win new customers from competitors by offering some kind of improvement on their rewards). Capital One has done just that with its new Capital One Venture Card, a $59-annual fee credit card that pays double miles on purchases and lets users redeem rewards on any travel-related purchase.

So is the Captial One Venture Card something to get excited about? If you play the credit card points/miles/cash back game and travel is your choosen reward, perhaps. (And a friendly reminder, if you don’t pay off your credit card balance(s) in full every single month, don’t bother with a rewards card…you probably won’t come out ahead).

In general, Capital One cards are becoming popular with travelers for two reasons:

• Simple Rewards: Many users say Capital One’s miles rewards programs have been living up to the card company’s “no hassles” tagline.
• No Foreign Currency Fees: Capital One cards are among the only cards that do not charge foreign currency transaction fees and they have pledged to continue this practice even as other issuers raise fees. Becuase that could save you between two and four percent on any overseas purchases, some would say Capital One cards are among the best credit cards for international travel.

Read more…

Mar 15th, 2010 by David Weliver in Credit
Comments (4) --- Add Yours!

Perhaps you heard it from your parents, some guy you know who “really has it together” or maybe you’ve read it on a blog like this one. Regardless of where you got the advice: You know that it’s never too early to start saving for retirement. That means if you have a steady job, you should start to save for retirement. But how? We get more questions about retirement savings—including 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts—than any other topic. And no wonder: It seems complicated, it’s boring as hell and, at the end of the day, retirement seems like a long way off when you’re in your twenties.

No matter. You can learn how to start saving for retirement in the five minutes it will take you to read this article, and you can probably start doing it in less than an hour. So if you know that you should start saving for retirement but have no idea where to start, roll up your sleeves, brush off your fear and let’s get started. Read more…

Mar 15th, 2010 by David Weliver in Investing
Comments (2) --- Add Yours!

Online savings accounts are a critical tool—especially for young savers—to set aside savings in an insured account while earning better interest rates than at their local bank. This page examines the best online savings account rates and is updated monthly or when rates change. For a more detailed comparison of our most recommended online savings accounts, read: high yield savings accounts compared. Read more…

Mar 13th, 2010 by David Weliver in Saving
Comments (7) --- Add Yours!

At one point or another, it’s happened to nearly all of us: For one reason or another, we spent more than our available checking account balance. And most likely, we wound up paying an overdraft fee for the privilege. In years prior to the day I “smartened up” financially, I probably gave my credit union several hundred dollars in overdraft fees because I was frequently either carless, broke, or both.

Needless to say, in the years since then, learning to balance my checkbook and save financial reserves has saved me untold amounts of money. If you want to do the same, it’s important to understand why overdraft protection exists and how it works.

And that’s never been more important than today, because the way banks handle overdraft protection features (and the accompanying fees) is changing. Read more…

Mar 12th, 2010 by David Weliver in Consumer Protection
Comments (2) --- Add Yours!

Ah, March Madness. It’s the time of the year when the men in my life go missing until early April, returning often with a broken heart and always with an empty wallet.

If you’ve just woken up from a several-decade coma, March Madness is the end of the college basketball season in the United States, culminating in the infamous nationwide NCAA Tournament. But it’s not so much the basketball that puts the “madness” in the month of March; it’s the betting.

In March, millions of people in offices, schools and even churches across the country—some who have never watched an entire basketball game in their life—will attempt to predict the outcome of the entire NCAA tournament and wager hard-earned money with coworkers and friends for the chance to win a pool of cash (and, of course, bragging rights for a year).

But wait, a personal finance Website telling you to gamble? Say it isn’t so! Read more…

Mar 9th, 2010 by Carrie from "Carrie...On The Cheap" in Frugal Living
Comments (2) --- Add Yours!

We first published “How Much House Can You Afford” over a year ago, but we’ve been getting a lot of questions about the subject recently. In fact, we’ve also been getting a lot of people asking why they haven’t been approved for a mortgage. In many cases, we simply have to tell them that they’re trying to buy too much house. The easy solution is to know how much house you can afford before you apply for a mortgage.

Buying your first home is one of the most important and exciting financial milestones of your life. But before you hit the streets with a realtor, you need to have a good sense of a realistic budget. Just how much house can you afford? You can determine how much house you can afford by following three simple rules or percentages of your monthly income. Read more…

Mar 5th, 2010 by David Weliver in Real Estate
Comments (4) --- Add Yours!

Want to save thousands on your taxes? Consider buying a home. Without a doubt, the home mortgage interest deduction is a major perk of home ownership: the mortgage interest you pay on your home reduces your taxable income. The first-year interest payments on a $180,000 30-year fixed rate home loan at 5.01 percent add up to almost $9,000. That’s a lot of interest paid, but it’s also a huge tax deduction.

If you’re getting ready to buy your first home or are a new homeowner, here’s what you need to know—in plain English—about the home mortgage interest deduction. Read more…

Mar 5th, 2010 by David Weliver in Real Estate, Taxes
Comments (2) --- Add Yours!

Pop quiz: Do you know how much cash you have in all of your bank accounts, right now? How long would you take to determine how much you spent on groceries and how much you contributed to your IRA last year?

Stumped? You might stand to learn how to organize your finances better. I know I could. Still, I don’t want to waste countless hours scrutinizing every receipt. I want to “set it and forget it”. I want a system that eliminates work and creates powerful peace-of-mind. So I created a plan to organize my finances in the simplest way I could devise; hopefully it helps you organize your finances, too. It comes down to three simple steps: Consolidate, Automate and Document. Read more…

Mar 3rd, 2010 by David Weliver in Personal Finance
Comments (2) --- Add Yours!