Take a moment to consider how you would feel if your neighbors, friends and family knew all the details of your finances. Maybe you wouldn’t care — there are in fact people who go around bragging about their credit scores — but most people don’t talk about their money situation for at least a couple… Read More

Americans are becoming a bunch of tightwads. Despite economic improvements, consumers increasingly favor saving over spending, according to Gallup’s April 3-6 Economy and Personal Finance poll, and individuals’ preferences aren’t tied to whether they expressed financial concerns or confidence in the economy. It seems we’ve simply had a change of taste. That change didn’t come… Read More

I received an unexpected email from a friend today with a Google doc attachment. It was a friendly note, so friendly that I did consider clicking on it — even with about 20 years experience watching all manner of hacker tricks.  Fortunately, I stopped and asked a simple question, which is almost always enough to… Read More

You’ve heard mortgage professionals and personal finance experts practically harp on you to check your credit well in advance of getting a mortgage and you may or may not have taken their advice. But what if you knew that better credit could save you enough to pay for your kid’s college education — or even… Read More

A credit report is a pretty simple concept: It’s a report on your past use of credit and loans. That part is generally pretty easy for people to grasp. It’s some of the other stuff on the report — and the stuff that’s not on the report — that confuses some and leads to misunderstanding… Read More

The secret to tax success is apparently a multi-pocket file folder. I know you’d probably like nothing more than to forget about taxes for the next several months. Some of you will certainly go about 50 weeks before you get going on another tax return, but your life will likely be much less hectic next… Read More

Call it a revelation, a crisis, a turning point — or all three — but while writing her latest book, The Smart Women’s Guide to Retirement, Mary Hunt realized she had to make a life-changing decision. Years before, she dug out of more than $100,000 in debt without declaring bankruptcy. Now she found herself facing… Read More

The idea of beginning to save can seem impossible when you are carrying a large amount of debt. In fact, sometimes just figuring out how to pay off your debt can be difficult. There are some strategies financial experts advise when it comes to deciding how to take care of your debt. Here’s how to… Read More

Since the inception of qualified mortgages this year, the process to successfully close on a mortgage has become compliant-heavy by industry standards. This is especially true if you own your business. It’s no mystery among self-employed borrowers that banks do not make it easy for an entrepreneur to qualify. Here’s what you’ll need to get… Read More

Craigslist, when used cautiously, can be extremely helpful for finding all sorts of things, like bicycles, roommates or even employment. When hunting for something on Craigslist, you should go into the process with a little skepticism, because there are plenty of things on there that are too good to be true. The Better Business Bureau… Read More