Benefits enrollment season is fast approaching, and if you work for a large company chances are you’ll have the opportunity to sign up for a Flexible Savings Account (FSA). As reported in the _Chicago Tribune_, FSAs enable you to use pre-tax dollars for everything from doctor co-pays to aspirin, which can add up to hundreds […]
Author Archive | Matt Bell
ATMs Getting Even More Automated
Coming soon to an ATM near you: no deposit envelopes. And no, they didn’t just run out, as is often the case. According to the _Detroit News_, the newest ATMs allow checks to be fed into special slots without envelopes. The machines then spit out receipts showing images of the checks. Cash can be inserted […]
All Online Calculators Not Created Equal
With all of the online calculators available you’d think it would be easy to figure out how much to save for our later years. But with lots of calculators come lots of different answers, which is why _MarketWatch.com_ recently kicked the keys on several popular retirement calculators. While the article didn’t rave about any of […]
Free is Good
If filling your tank with gas or your toddler with milk is tapping you out, _Kiplinger.com_ recently provided a welcome list of things that are absolutely free. Looking for some new tunes for your iPod? Check out the free choices on . As you might expect, the choices are mostly limited to less familiar bands. […]
Independence Day
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:31b-32 My wife and I once lived in a home with cracks in its foundation. Every time it rained I got a knot in my stomach because I knew […]
Privileged Money Management
“For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.” – 2 Corinthians 8:3-4 According to American Express, “Membership has its privileges.” Its copyrighted phrase is designed to […]
Taking the Financial Pain Out of a Big Stink
April showers sometimes bring more than sweet smelling May flowers. Every now and then they bring not such sweet smelling sewage water into people’s basements. And that makes now an ideal time to check whether you have sewer-backup insurance. As reported in the _Wall Street Journal_, most homeowner policies don’t automatically cover sewer backups, and […]
Getting on the Same Financial Page
Two recent surveys indicate that many husbands and wives are not just on different pages when it comes to financial matters, they’re using different playbooks. As reported by _MarketWatch_ recently, a Fidelity survey found that about a third of couples gave different answers to questions about everything from their expected age of retirement to whether […]
Eco-Friendly Money Management
All too often, buying products that are good for the environment is not so good for your wallet. In honor of Earth Day, _SmartMoney_ magazine offered up several eco friendly ideas that don’t cost an arm and a leg. For example, if you regularly dry clean clothes, opt for an ironically named “wet” dry-cleaner. The […]
Putting Idle Money to Work
If you have a brokerage account, chances are you have some uninvested money sitting in a cash account often referred to as a “sweep account.” Fidelity calls it a “core account;” Vanguard uses the term “settlement account.” According to a story in the _Chicago Tribune_, investment houses increasingly have been putting such money into low-interest […]