Do you have “frugal fatigue?” You’re not alone. Pinching pennies becomes exhausting, year after year. You dream of breaking free and buying everything in sight.
But tiresome as budgets are, consumers haven’t quit them yet. You threw some money around in December, when credit card use bumped up for the first time since the 2008 financial [...]
In marriage, what’s your biggest financial risk? That your spouse has a secret vice, and I don’t mean playing around with other partners. It’s STD in a different form – “sexually transmitted debt.” Your beloved might be hauling the burden of excess credit card spending or unpaid student loans that have grown from a molehill [...]
Make 2011 your year to simplify. The day I started to practice investment KISS (Keep It Simple, Sister*) was when I finally got control of my financial life. I dropped my broker, quit hunting for hot stocks and mutual funds (losers, all), and put my retirement money on automatic pilot. I chose an easy [...]
If you froze your credit cards in a block of ice this Christmas season, you’re part of a trend. The use of general cards such as Visa and MasterCard dropped by 11 percent in the third quarter of this year, the credit bureau TransUnion reports. America’s Research Group found that, over the [...]
Student loans — if unpaid even for a short time — lock you into the only effective debtors’ prison existing in the United States. The government’s collection rights are something a mobster might admire. Late fees and collection fees are ruinous. Student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, so you’ll drag that escalating debt forever. [...]
