Getting Started With Savings
I recommend maintaining three distinct types of savings accounts: an emergency fund (with 3-6 months’ worth of essential living expenses), a big-ticket item replacement fund (where you save for your next vehicle or to pay for a new furnace), and a periodic bills and expenses fund (where you save each month for bills and expenses that you’ll have to pay sometime in the year, such as an annual life insurance premium or Christmas gifts). You could open 3 separate accounts. Or, I use Capital One 360, where one account can be set up with numerous sub-accounts.
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Financial superpowers (A Wealth of Common Sense). If Stan Lee had come up with Money Man, here’s what he’d be able to do. It’s what we should all be able to do. This common job advice is actually setting grads up […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. What we want doesn’t always make us happy (Bloomberg). Are you pursuing things, and spending money on things, that won’t make you happy? Here’s how much more money you’d have for retirement if you saved $100 a month starting at age […]
A helpful new survey from TD Ameritrade highlighted some key differences between “super savers” and everyone else. The survey defined a “super saver” as someone who sets aside 20% or more of his or her income to save or invest. A peak into their financial lives offers good lessons for anyone who aspires to save […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. This fascinating new tool lets you map the cheapest flights to anywhere from any city (MarketWatch). If you’re planning a trip, give this a try. Six women share their biggest financial mistakes (Fast Company). An opportunity to learn from other people’s […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Money really can buy happiness if you spend it these 4 ways, according to science (Inc.). What uses of money have brought you the most joy and how do they line up with these four suggestions? The more money you make, […]
Waiting can be tough. We seem to be hardwired to resist it. And our culture does us no favors here. Whatever we’re interested in buying, there are ways — and we’re strongly encouraged — to have it now. Paying for it? That can wait until later. But there are great rewards for those who learn […]
There’s a new report out that says very few Americans are financially healthy. Working with researchers at the University of Southern California, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) developed an eight-question survey that was taken by a representative sample of U.S. adults, leading to what it calls the U.S. Financial Health Pulse. Its results […]
A weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Here’s how money really can buy you happiness (Time). After decades of searching for a connection between money and happiness, here’s what’s been learned. Buy it for life: Choosing quality over price (Get Rich Slowly). Spending a little more is often the […]
If you’re really paying attention, life can be a very odd experience. Especially when it comes to money. For example, in troubled economic times, front-page newspaper stories regularly quote economists expressing concern that the personal savings rate is going up. I still vividly remember reading one such story during a previous recession. I had to […]
Those of us who write about money for a living can get a little carried away by some of the nitty-gritty details. That seemed to be the case in a surprisingly impassioned debate that sprang up recently over what a person’s higher priority should be—controlling spending or controlling saving. At first, it seemed kind of […]
