What Do Bank Routing Numbers Mean?

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blank_check

Bank routing numbers, or “routing transfer numbers” (RTN’s) appear on virtually all of our checks and other demand instruments, but as common as they are most of us have no idea what their purpose is.

Occasionally we’re asked to provide our bank’s routing number—such as for direct deposit of income tax refunds—but this does little to clear up the mystery behind them or why they’re so important.

Think of it this way: each of us has a checking account number—the bank has its own identification number, and that’s the bank routing number.  That number is at least as important to the bank as our checking account numbers are to us.

Where do you find a bank routing number?

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What Insurance Policies Does Your Family Need?

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Picking the appropriate level of insurance coverage for your family can be a confusing and overwhelming task.

Not only are there multiple insurance companies to choose from for the various insurance needs you have, but there are so many different types of insurance that it can be difficult to know where to start.

Critical Insurance Policies to Have For Your Family

There are five critical insurance policies every family should have.

Life Insurance

The most critical insurance policy for a family is life insurance coverage on both spouses or parents regardless if they are working or not.
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Should Every Student Pursue a Four Year College Education?

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The availability of student loans has changed our financial and employment landscape. 

While attending college used to be something just a few did, “We now send 70 percent of high-school graduates to college, up from 40 percent in 1970,”according to Marty Nemko, a career counselor based in Oakland California (The Chronicle of Higher Education).

While 70 percent of high school graduates attend college, the number of students who graduate with a degree is smaller.  Even when a student does obtain an undergraduate degree, a job is not guaranteed.

“Among the members of the class of 2010, just 56% had held at least one job” (The New York Times) by the spring of 2011.

This naturally begs the question, should all high school graduates attend a college?  Should attending college be something we encourage our children to do?
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Are Credit Monitoring Services Worth It?

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Credit

You know that your credit is important.

From getting a mortgage, to buying a car, to getting the best insurance rates, your credit can impact how much you pay, and whether you get the loan you need.

Staying on top of your credit is important if you want to save thousands of dollars over your lifetime.

On top of that, identity theft is the fastest growing crime, and everyone is vulnerable.

No matter how hard you try to keep your information safe, there is no way to completely guarantee that you won’t end up the victim of identity theft.

One of the earliest ways to catch identity fraud is to keep tabs on what is happening with your credit.

Because good credit is such a concern, and because identity theft is a very real fear, many people turn to credit monitoring services.  These services can help you keep track of whether or not your credit is improving, as well as notify you when someone opens credit in your name (and signaling that someone else might be using your identity).

But are credit monitoring services worth it? Continue Reading

Stocks Have Best Week of 2012 and Links

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This week’s rally on the stock market emphasized one investing principal that we should all take time to remember: consistency.

It was just two weeks ago that the market dropped so much during a one week period that all of the gains from 2012 were completely wiped out.  Now the markets just capped off the best week of the entire year.

The S&P 500 rose 3.73% in the past five market days.

With the markets going up, down, up, and down again, how can the investing principal be consistency?

For me it is the reminder to consistently be investing in the market.

My wife and I have our Roth IRA contributions coming out weekly now rather than monthly.  That means some weeks the price is higher than the price we paid last week, and other weeks are on the other side of the equation.

But we’re investing and building up shares in our index mutual funds for the long run.  This type of consistency makes it easy to shrug off the worst week of the year followed by the best week of the year because we know, eventually, there will be another worst and best week of the year.  As long as we’re building up shares and the market goes up over time — which, historically, it has — then we come out ahead.

Want to forget about the ups and downs of the stock market? Here are some great reads:

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2012 Federal Income Tax Brackets and Marginal Tax Rates

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The Federal Income Tax brackets and marginal tax rates for 2012 are out, and we’ll take a look at how the changes affect single taxpayers, those who are married filing jointly, those married filing separately, and head of household.

The changes from 2011 to 2012 are fairly small but they can have an impact for those who are at or over a threshold.

By knowing what bracket and marginal rate you may fall in, you can tax plan to lower your taxable income.

Every year the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, uses inflation data to revise the bracket amounts.  Congress sets the marginal rate percentages with changes in the law.

Note the marginal tax rates are remaining the same in 2012 as they were in 2011.  It’s the dollar amount of the tax brackets that’s changing.

Before we jump into the changes I want to let you know that a qualifying widow(er) follows the same rates as married filing jointly.

The 10% tax bracket—the lowest marginal tax rate

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Victim of Identity Theft? Here Are Your Next Steps to Protect Yourself

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Credit card security

One of the fastest growing crimes in identity theft.

It’s the theft of information about you — information that can be used by fraudsters to pretend to be you and get access to a number of perks using your good name.

Whether your credit card number has been stolen, or whether someone is using your information to qualify for a car loan, it’s possible for someone else to pretend to be you.

Your stolen identity can impact you and your finances.

Obviously, if someone steals your credit card information and makes purchases, that can impact your abilities to use your own financial resources — at least until you take action.  If someone is using your card for purchases, you could be denied when you go to make purchases later.  And, if someone uses your information to open a loan, it shows up as your debt in your credit report.  If the fraudster isn’t making payments, it’s your credit that is sunk.

Once you realize that your identity has been stolen, it’s important to take action.

Here are the steps to follow as soon as you realize that your identity has been compromised: Continue Reading

Understand Wedding Customs Before You Spend Your Money On Them

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engagement_ring

The summer months represent the peak of wedding season in the United States.

Every year approximately 2 million Americans get married (CDC), and they spend an average of $27,800 on their wedding (The Knot).

While Americans routinely decide to create their own customs such as the recent craze of choreographing a dance for the wedding party at the reception, we also follow customs that have been handed down through generations.  However, a closer look at how these customs came to be may free you to not follow tradition and save yourself some money.

Many of today’s wedding customs are rooted in the fact that weddings used to be less about love and more about business.  Simply put, weddings were a business arrangement, and this can be seen through a variety of customs we still embrace.

Consider the following wedding customs:

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Stocks Erase 2012 Gains and Links

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After an unexpectedly low jobs report the stock market dropped more than 2% on Friday.

Added in with the losses from the rest of the month of May, put the S&P 500 down 9.1% for the month.  Nearly all of the gains in the S&P 500 from the rest of the year have been wiped out — the index is only up 1.63% YTD.

If you’re nearing retirement, you just took a significant hit to your portfolio and should adjust accordingly.

However, for those with many years left to retirement the idea of the stock market going down should be soon as a good thing because the same amount of investment will buy more shares at lower prices than they would have at the beginning of May.

It can be difficult to see stocks as being “on sale”, but that mentality can help you significantly in your retirement planning.  These great reads will help you, too:

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