When was the last time you checked your beneficiary designations? If it’s been a while, take a few minutes to review your life insurance policies and investment accounts like workplace retirement plans and brokerage accounts. That’s one of the 38 financial fixes highlighted by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. When I double-checked our life insurance policies […]
Author Archive | Matt Bell
Keep Your Number to Yourself
The best way to guard against identity theft is to guard your Social Security number According to the Social Security Administration, relatively few organizations actually need your number. Your employer needs it in order to pay you. Financial institutions such as banks and brokerage firms need it because they report interest earned to the IRS. […]
Does Your Home Own You?
Garrison Keillor once joked that when people are young they often dream about being painters or poets, but the single biggest destroyer of all such romantic career notions is a 30-year mortgage. Get one of those, he said, and you’ll chain yourself to an eight-by-eight cubicle for the next 30 years as you labor to […]
The Road to Financial Freedom…
…is driven in a paid-for vehicle. While developing a set of detailed recommended spending plans for various size households at various incomes, it became clear to me that in order to live in financial freedom it’s essential to avoid financing vehicles. MSN recently pointed out that most of today’s vehicles should be able to make […]
Should You Pay Kids to Go Green?
A new web site, Green Allowance, encourages parents to use allowances to motivate their kids to develop environmentally friendly habits. The site fosters a deal between parents and their kids: the kids take on various energy saving projects, the parents split some of the estimated savings with their kids. Green Allowance sends report cards, showing […]
From Community College to Med School
If you’re wondering how to help your kids make it through college without a mortgage-size loan, consider the experience of Brittany Blackburn. Her route to a full scholarship at Yale Medical School included stops at two community colleges. According to a WalletPop article, spending the first two years at a community college can make a […]
The Great Cyberspace Marketplace
Looking to buy or sell something online? There are more sites to consider than just eBay or Craigslist. Mainstreet.com recently highlighted 14 niche marketplace sites. Bonanzle is for buyers and sellers of “Everything but the ordinary,” including vintage toys, artwork, and more. To buy or sell homemade jewelry, handbags, or other crafts, try Etsy. Glyde […]
Are You a Two-List Shopper?
You’ve heard it for years: Never go grocery shopping without a list. But did you know that even list users typically have two lists? There’s the list in their hand and the list in their head. As reported on MSN.com, a new study found that 75 percent of shoppers entered the store knowing they were […]
Managing Money by the Book: Financial Love and Respect
With 20 years of ministry experience, a PhD in family studies, a Master’s of Divinity degree, and a Master’s degree in communication, Emerson Eggerichs was a knowledgeable, experienced, and effective pastor. But one day, while rereading a passage of scripture he had preached on many times, he discovered what he calls “the key to any […]
More Amazing Tales From Super Couponers
If couponing were a sport, Jill Cataldo and Nathan Engels would be Olympic champions. As reported by ABCNews.com, Cataldo’s weekly grocery bill runs between $40 and $60, and that’s to feed a family of five. Engels spends almost no money on groceries; he hasn’t had to buy toilet paper since 2007 thanks to the three-year […]