There are definitely many considerations consumers should make when deciding whether to rent or own, but the most important has to be “opportunity cost”.
Millennials — roughly ages 30 to 44 — occupy the most financially pressured position of any generation right now. You are old enough to have accumulated significant obligations (mortgages, student loans, credit card debt, family expenses) but not yet old enough to have the peak earnings and wealth accumulation that typically ease financial pressure in your 50s and 60s.
Student loan debt does not disqualify you from getting a mortgage — but it changes the math in ways that directly affect whether you get approved, how much you can borrow, and what interest rate you receive.
Adopting an opportunity cost mindset can help you make better decisions with regards to your finances, education, self-fulfillment, and general quality of life.
The unemployment rate is the percentage of our population that is employed within the labor force. The labor force is the percentage of the population that is able to and willing to work.
Stagflation is like a sort of 'worst of both worlds' phenomenon. With stagflation, the economy is stagnant and not growing but there is also rampant inflation. In this Scenario the FED is not meeting it's dual mandate.
An APY is the interest rate return you receive when you lend out money and an APR is the interest rate you pay when you borrow money. They are nearly the same thing but they live on opposite sides of the interest rate spectrum.
Saving and investing are a matter of personal preference. However, in an ideal world, you’ll have saved up money for the recession so that you can utilize it and invest when you see opportunities for discounted asset prices.
A check is a written, dated and signed documents that instructs a bank to pay a specific amount of money to a person or entity. Banks then typically process the check to the merchant once it clears, this process can take a few days to fully process.
The first step is to create a budget and understand where your finances are going awry. If you don’t understand the problem you won’t be able to get a better understanding of your situation and how to fix it.
People in financial difficulty are disproportionately targeted by consumer scams. This isn't coincidence — it's strategy. Scammers understand that financial stress creates urgency, and urgency overrides the skepticism that would normally prevent someone from acting on an offer that seems too good to be true.
Installment loans are quite versatile and can refer to many different types of loans, since they are essentially just a loan that you receive within a lump sum and pay back over time via a set amount of payments.
Inflation is the sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services over time. When inflation rises, each dollar you earn buys less than it did before — your groceries cost more, your rent increases, your gas bill goes up, and the gap between your income and your expenses narrows or disappears entirely.
These are all considerations you should make if you want to retire early and in this day and age, retiring early might not be such an easy feat. If you are carrying high interest credit card debt you are holding yourself back from an early retirement.
Managing multiple credit cards isn't inherently a problem. Some people do it skillfully — maximizing rewards, maintaining low utilization across accounts, and carrying zero balances. The credit scoring system actually rewards credit diversity when it's managed well. But multiple credit cards also create specific risks that don't exist with a single card, and those risks compound quickly when cash flow gets tight.
Credit card fraud can come in many different forms. In some cases, consumers accounts get compromised and they have to remove fraudulent activity from compromised accounts. Here's what to look out for.
In almost every scenario, no — going into credit card debt to travel is not worth it. The longer answer involves understanding the real math, the psychology behind why people do it, and what to do if the damage is already done.
As long as it doesn't impede too much on their freedoms and more life uncomfortable, by default, most people want to live a greener lifestyle. Living a greener lifestyle doesn't have to be so hard. Here's some quick tips to help you get started on your new path to live green!
The best way to curb your spending and credit card usage is by keeping your credit cards out of mind and out of sight. You can also start using other payment methods to help mix things up. All in all, the following tips should help you cut usage.
There are a few ways someone with a modest income or financial struggles can more meaningfully contribute towards paying down their debt. As always, the first step is to better understand your financial situation.
During an economic downturn money is more valuable than it is during a period of expansion. So prudent consumers will try to maximize the benefits of an economic downturn by investing into as much as possible and lowering spending whenever possible.
Vacations can be a whole lot of fun! But you know what's not fun? Being unprepared for the cost of a vacation. Make sure you evaluate your finances and make sure that going on a vacation is the right move for you at this point in time. Make certain how much you have to allocate towards the trip and understand what you can afford to designate towards “extra expenses”.
When you anticipate or complete a purchase, your brain releases dopamine — the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. Importantly, the dopamine spike occurs during the anticipation of the purchase more than from the item itself. The brain is wired to pursue reward, and purchasing activates that circuit reliably.
If you plan on purchasing a home during a recession you will have a lot less competition and demand and you will have more motivated sellers than you would otherwise.
When people are looking for ways to manage or consolidate credit card debt, two options come up frequently: personal loans and personal lines of credit. They sound similar but function very differently — and choosing the wrong one can make a debt situation worse instead of better.
Clients finishing a debt settlement program, young adults opening their first account, and immigrants establishing a U.S. credit file for the first time all face the same fundamental challenge: proving to the scoring models that you can borrow responsibly when you either have no history or a negative one.
When money is tight — truly tight, not just "the budget is uncomfortable" but "I cannot cover all my obligations this month" — the standard financial advice stops applying. When you cannot pay everything, paying in the right order protects the things that matter most and limits the consequences of what you cannot cover.
Lifestyle inflation is the tendency to increase spending as income increases — upgrading your apartment when you get a raise, buying a nicer car after a promotion, dining out more because you can "afford it now." It is the most socially acceptable financial trap in existence.
With regards to money and finance a lot of the things we do are motivated by the psychology of how we view money. Some people dispose of it easily, some save it, some risk it, some invest it and others never have enough.
In the U.S. there is free flowing money and money that is generally being utilized by the public. This free-flowing money is the heart of the economy and its economic activity. Without free-flowing money that is constantly exchanging hands and being exchanged for good and services, the heart of the economy would not beat.