A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks
SmartyPig is running a new contest called “Race out of Debt.” The winner will get $4,951. Why $4,951? Well, it seems that’s the average American’s credit card debt as of this Summer. Sound like a lot? It’s actually down 13% from last year! So to celebrate bringing our debt down, SmartyPig is going to make one contestant super happy.
Do you shop at Amazon? Do you have an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards points? Great news! Amazon now accepts AmEx Membership Rewards points as payment (for most items).
In order to use your Membership Rewards points on Amazon you need to register your American Express card with Amazon. It’s a one-time registration and it’s real easy to do.
[Read more…] about Pay For Amazon Purchases With AmEx Membership Rewards Points
Owning a home is an awesome feeling, let me tell you! Though we don’t own our home outright yet. Maybe we own a bedroom and a bit of the kitchen? Some grass in the yard? Like most people we had to take out a mortgage loan in order to buy our house. There are many different types of mortgage loans out there these days. We chose a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage.
Here’s what we considered in choosing a 30-year mortgage:
[Read more…] about Why We Chose A 30 Year Mortgage When We Bought Our Home
Asset allocation is an investment strategy that is used to choose among various asset classes such as stocks, bonds, commodities, foreign currencies, real estate, annuities and life insurance, and high value collectibles including precious metals.
Asset allocation as a way of investing is an important part of a person’s financial planning process that primarily concerns the very relationship of an investment portfolio’s risk and return. Different asset classes offer different risks and returns as long as their performances are not perfectly correlated (if they go up and down in the same market conditions). Asset allocation reduces the volatility of investment results when not all investments in the portfolio rise and fall at the same time.
You know that making purchases using credit cards is expensive if you do not pay off your balance each month. Indeed, carrying a balance on your credit card is one of the biggest ways that people waste money each month. However, it is hard to see this, since the minimum payments required by credit card companies are so small and seem so affordable. The Credit CARD Act of 2009 has required credit card companies to list total payoff amounts, and alternatives to only paying the minimum, on statements, but many still overlook some of the issues associated with a slow repayment of credit card debt.
This infographic from Go Banking Rates offers a look at just how expensive it can be to make purchases using credit:
[Read more…] about Buying Stuff on Credit is Expensive [Infographic]
