6 Steps to Take in a Financial Emergency

Written by 5 Comments
cash_change_money

Every now and then, financial catastrophe strikes.

You never know when you will run into a financial emergency.  Sometimes, things are simply out of your control.

When a financial emergency arrives, though, it’s important to take control as quickly as possible.

While you can’t control what happens in terms of an unexpected financial setback, you can control your reaction to it.  When you find yourself dealing with a financial emergency, here are 6 steps you can take to get back on track as soon as possible:

1. Take a Deep Breath, and Evaluate the Situation

Continue Reading

How Much Is Your Total Compensation?

Written by 13 Comments

In the recovering American economy some people are just glad to have any job.

But in certain sectors of the economy — information technology being one of them — unemployment is incredibly low.  That leads to many candidates receiving multiple competing offers that must be compared to each other.

Whether you are looking for your first job offer, trying to leave your current job, or need to compare multiple offers, there are some points about compensation you must be aware of before making a decision.

Your Salary is Only Part of Your Compensation

Continue Reading

Have a Student Going Off to College? Teach Your Child about Student Loan Debt

Written by 4 Comments

If you have a soon to be graduating high school senior, she has hopefully been accepted to several schools and is in the processes of deciding which to accept.

Your high school students should be blissfully debt free right now, but as soon as she decides what school to attend, that may all change.

Far too many students decide what college to attend because they like the campus or the atmosphere or because they want to move far from home.

Ideally, before she even begins to apply to colleges, you, as the parent, should sit down with her and discuss finances.  This conversation should occur no later than before your child makes a decision as to what college to attend.

Most parents would like to pay for their child’s entire college education, but that is often not possible due to the current economy and rising tuition costs.

Chances are, if your child attends an expensive university or private college, she will have to take out student loans, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars worth of student loans.  The cold reality is that she may be paying these loans for the next 10 to 20 years, and she may have to delay important life events such as getting married, having a child and buying a home all because of her student loan debt level.

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Continue Reading

LIBOR Rate Fixing Scandal and Links

Written by 1 Comment

America turned 236 years old this week, but in the financial markets that news was nothing compared to the scandal rocking London financial markets.

It came to light this week that Barclays — and potentially other mega banks — helped prop up or inflate the LIBOR rate over the past several years.

Why is LIBOR important?

It stands for London Interbank Offered Rate.  It is the rate that major banks can expect to be charged when they borrow money from another bank.  If a bank’s cost of borrowing was artificially higher than it should have been they would then have to charge their customers higher interest rates on loans.

In short, we all may have been paying slightly higher interest rates on every type of lending product because a few banks conspired together to artificially keep rates higher than they needed to be.

That’s big financial news.

The LIBOR scandal won’t provide any relief from your current loans and debts, but these articles just might help you:

Continue Reading

EverBank Online Yield Pledge Checking and Money Market Review

Written by 2 Comments

If you’re tired of your bank hitting you with fees for nearly everything you do, then paying you a microscopic amount of interest to keep your money on deposit with them, you may have a viable alternative.

EverBank is an alternative to traditional banks if you’re looking to avoid excessive fees while also earning above average interest rates.

Alternative to traditional banks

EverBank is an “online bank”, which is to say that you can conduct all of your banking online without ever having the need to go into the bank itself.

It’s based in Jacksonville, Florida, has well over $13 billion in assets, and has been around since 1961 though obviously not in its online form.

The bank offers 24/7 customer service (by phone), and since it is a bank, your depository assets are covered under FDIC for up to $250,000.

As part of its online model, you can deposit checks from your home computer—all you need to do is add the deposit information into your account online, endorse and scan both sides of the check, and your funds will be available the next business day.
Continue Reading

A Victory for College Students – Student Loan Rates Remain Low for Now

Written by 7 Comments

Until June 29th, a big problem was brewing for college students but less than two days before the deadline, Congress agreed on a bill that would avert larger student loan payments for some students.

The cost of college rises at roughly twice the rate of inflation each year.  This equates to nearly 6% annually and that has made college tuition out of reach of the majority of families that didn’t save for education costs.  Because of that, most students now rely on grants and loans to pay the costs.  Grants quickly run out for most leaving student loans as their only option.

The federal government helps by offering two types of loans, called Stafford loans.
Continue Reading

Fourth (4th) of July Deals, Freebies, and Discounts

Written by 3 Comments
fourth of july fireworks

For the last several years, companies have generously offered freebies as a way to get new customers in the door (and perhaps spend more money with the business offering the freebie).  A wise consumer may choose to take advantage of the freebie and not necessarily buy more.

If you are looking for some frugal fun on the days leading up to the 4th and on the 4th itself, check out some of these 4th of July freebies and deals:

Holiday Celebration Gear

Continue Reading

How will Obamacare Affect Small Business?

Written by 21 Comments

Since the economy began recovering from the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, Washington has used one key talking point.

According to politicians, the key to a sustained economic recovery in America is the strength and health of the small business community.

Small businesses create more jobs than large corporations and according to some economists, have led the way in recoveries during past recessions.

But much of the small business community feels like Washington’s commitment to their growth may have been nothing more than talk in light of the recent Supreme Court decision that upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Some of the key provisions of this law include:

Continue Reading

Healthcare Mandate Upheld by Supreme Court and Links

Written by 6 Comments

The Supreme Court announced on Thursday that, for the most part, they were siding with the healthcare law commonly referred to as Obamacare.

However, in an interesting twist they only agreed because Congress has the ability to create taxes, and to the Court, clearly the mandate was a tax increase.  Anything that you have to pay if you don’t pay something else in, at its core, a tax.

Of course Democrats in Congress never wanted to call it that because it never would have passed.  Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the law as constitutional it will be one of the largest tax increases in American history.

But that’s why we have a democracy: the branches of government that balance each other out.

Most of us are better served in watching our own finances that worrying about the Supreme Court. Here are some articles to help you do that:

Continue Reading

ING Direct Financial Independence Days Sale – 2012

Written by 1 Comment
ING Financial Independence

ING DIRECT is at it again!

ING Direct Financial Independence Days SaleTo help celebrate our country’s independence, ING DIRECT is offering up some juicy deals to help you achieve financial independence.  As our country’s independence was declared in 1776, you’ll find many of the offers play of the ’76 theme.

Hurry up and check out the offers as they as are only around June 30th thru 11:59 pm ET, July 3rd.

Here are the ING DIRECT Financial Independence Days Offers:

Liberate from Checking Fees

Continue Reading