Personal Finance Archives

Five Ways You Are Wasting Money Around the House

Are you looking for ways to save money in your family’s monthly budget? You may be surprised to realize just how you may be wasting money around the house with everyday items that you haven’t even considered. If you just look around your home, I’m sure that you can find several ways that you can save money instead of wasting money around the house. Five Ways You Are Wasting Money Around The House Having 200 Cable Channels Do you have the biggest cable or satellite television package that is offered? Have you ever sat down to seriously think about how many of those cable channels that you are actually watching? It is a classic example of the Pareto Principle. I … Read more

Reader’s Question: Handling Finances In Marriage With A Reluctant Spouse

by Hank Coleman

Here is the next installment in our the Reader’s Questions Series which highlight questions emailed to me by you, the readers of Money Q&A.

Be sure to find out at the end of this article how you can receive a free copy of Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover if your money question is chosen to be featured on a future week’s blog post.

If you’re not familiar with Dave Ramsey’s book, you should run right out and get it. It is one of my top ten best personal finance books that everyone should read. Now….on to our reader’s question. Kathleen emailed me a question about handling finances in marriage…

How do you convince a reluctant spouse to talk about finances, savings, and investing when you are up to your eyeballs in debt? What is the best way of handling finances in marriage with a reluctant spouse?

A Little Bit Of The Back Story

Here are a few more details from Kathleen’s email to me. She has been married 2.5 year, and she can’t get him to start a joint savings account. He keeps saying they do not have enough money at the end of each month to start saving. Kathleen also said that the couple also has no sort of savings, no emergency fund, etc. Nothing!

And, every time she brings it up, her husband says that they have student loans and car loans to pay back, and they can’t afford to start a savings account, open a credit union account, or even get a secured credit card.

She ends her email by saying that she knows that the couple needs a savings plan and an emergency fund, but she does not know how to convince her husband. So, what is the best way of handling finances in marriage with a reluctant spouse?

Saving, Investing, AND Paying Off Debt

There are many different schools of thought about paying off debt and investing at the same time. Many people like Dave Ramsey says that you should focus on debt repayment immediately after you have an initial emergency fund of $1,000 set up and before any investing takes places.

So, my number one piece of advice for Kathleen is to get her emergency fund set up as soon as possible before anything else. You will never be able to get out of the cycle of debt without a backstop of savings that you can go to when the car breaks down or the kids are sick. It is imperative that you have that initial emergency fund. Dave Ramsey has found that $1,000 handles 99% of most true emergencies that people have.

Top 8 Reasons Women Are More Honest Than Men With Money

by Guest Contributor

When it comes to financial dealings, it is rather difficult to maintain extreme levels of honesty. Honesty plays a significant role in efficiently handling personal finances. This is true with women and money.

A healthy and productive relationship, whether professional or personal, can only be maintained as long as there is truth and honesty in all dealings. If not timely dealt with, your financial dealings may cause severe credit problems.

The views and actions of men greatly differ from those of women and money. The acceptance of these differences can severely help to understand how women lead their financial lives.

Women and Money – Top 8 Reasons Women Are More Honest With Money

It has been a general observation that women, for some reason, tend to show more courage and honesty in financial activities. Following are the top eight causes of this belief:

1. Less Corrupt

Women are mostly believed to be less corrupt than men. The fact that stands them apart in corruption contest is that they are usually more fearful of financial scandals. Though, a majority of public and political offices have a great number of women employees, it is generally men who are involved in financial corruption.

2. Less Willing to Cheat

Most women, by nature, are less prone to cheat and deceive others. Despite being involved in financial activities, women find it easy to maintain their unique characteristics of fairness. For them, financial honesty in their personal and professional lives can provide them maximum results.

New Year’s Resolutions That Will Save You A Ton Of Money

by Hank Coleman

In the final weeks of the year, we are looking forward to a new year. With a new year comes resolutions that millions of people make to change. Some New Year’s resolutions are often forgotten mere weeks into the next year, while others are year long goals and finally accomplishments come December. Resolutions save you money if you keep them which is of course the hardest part of making them. But, it doesn’t have to be impossible. There are many common goals that people make, but these New Year’s Resolutions can save you money in the New Year: Quit smoking A popular resolution is for people to stop smoking. Smoking is a bad habit and a pretty expensive one too. … Read more

How to Prepare for a Great Year Financially and Manage Your Money Right

by Hank Coleman

December not only represents the holiday season, but it also signifies the end of the year. We have just a few more weeks left of this year, and the next year will quickly be upon us. Rather than waiting until January to get our resolutions together, this is the perfect time to start preparing your finances for the next year. Now is the time to start preparing for a great next year. Here are some things you can do to get started: Gather your receipts: This is a good time to start gathering all of your important receipts from the things you purchased or donated this year. Many people get their W2s either at the end of this month or … Read more

Personal Finance Tips, Core Philosophies, & Convictions

by Hank Coleman

If you have read this blog for any length of time, you can most likely tell which way I lean on most personal finance tips and money related topics. Typically, I do not try to preach too much of my own personal finance tips, philosophies, or credos on Money Q&A.

But, there comes a time when I just cannot stand the poor personal finance advice that permeates throughout the internet. Like many people say, if you do not stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

I wanted to share with you these few universal truths and personal finance tips that you can see woven throughout this website. These are a list of money and investing philosophies that lead every money decision that I typically make.

These shape my writing on this and other websites. These are convictions that you will not see waver on this site.

Personal Finance Tips, Philosophies, & Convictions

Term life insurance is the only type of life insurance you need.
90% of your investments need to be in index funds.
It is okay to risk a very small percentage of your overall investing portfolio.
It is imperative that you spend less than you make.
You have to have a monthly written budget…period.
You must have three to six months saved in an emergency fund.
There are no real ways to get rich quick.
The American Dream is not dead.
Fixed rate mortgages are the only way to buy homes.
You should be very cautious who you accept financial advice from.

Term Life Insurance Is The Only Type You Need

Term life insurance is the only type of life insurance that you need to purchase to protect your family from the premature loss of your income should you die early. The only people who profit from whole life insurance or cash value life insurance policies are those who sell it.

Everyone else is being taken advantage of when people try to sell or promote the product to you. Whole life insurance is an expensive form of life insurance because there is a cash value or investment portion associated with the insurance policy.

The extra cost, almost five times as much in some cases, is used for the mediocre investment returns that are promised to customers. There are many other investments and better financial products on the market to help you save and invest your money instead of having to buy whole life or cash value life insurance.

Life insurance is not an investment and should not be used as such. You can do better than a life insurance company when it comes to investing your money. you can invest that difference between term life insurance and whole life insurance policy.

What would you do with an extra $100 per month? I’m sure that you can think of better uses for that money and better investments than an investment company.

Even investing in an index fund would be a better option than buying a whole life insurance policy. Those who try to tell you different are either uninformed, delusional, biased, profiteers, or all of the above.