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 interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Why your estate plan needs to include digital assets like passwords and cryptocurrency (Money). You probably have more digital assets than you realize. What will happen to all of it if something happens to you? It’s time for Americans to buy less […]
There’s a new report out that says a growing but still small number of Americans are financially healthy. Working with researchers at the University of Southern California, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) administers an annual eight-question survey among a representative sample of U.S. adults, leading to what it calls the U.S. Financial Health […]
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 […]
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Robinhood hits campus, where credit card companies fear to tread (NY Times). How well does the college student in your life understand investing? If not very well, that free t-shirt may come at quite a cost. God doesn’t need your good works […]
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Child tax credit payments have begun. Should you opt out? (NY Times). It seems like free money, but it isn’t. Is it hoarding, collecting, or archiving? Keep? Toss? (Psychology Today). Oh, the complicated relationship we have with our stuff. Should I co-sign? […]
Over the years, I’ve asked readers to share some of the best financial advice they’ve ever received. Here are some of their answers. Bob said that during a pre-marriage class he and his then fiancé attended, the teacher suggested using pay raises to build an initial savings account. In Bob’s words, “I can remember how […]
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. Why having “enough” feels so elusive (Rad Reads). No easy answers here, just a good question we would all do well to ask ourselves from time to time. How a post-college gap year set me up for a million-dollar retirement (Real Simple). […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. 51% of millennials are keeping a major money secret from their partner: here’s what they’re hiding (CNBC). The ideal? Full financial disclosure before marriage, ongoing financial transparency after marriage. Should I pay off debt, save money, or invest? (Clark Howard). The […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. 22 IRS audit red flags (Kiplinger). It’s always struck me as odd that people who give especially generously are more likely to be audited. Rationality in investing (Retirement Field Guide). Taking a long-term perspective will be better for your portfolio, and […]
Are you trying to make a positive change in your finances or some other area of your life? How clear are you about the change you’re trying to make? As Chip and Dan Heath researched Switch, their helpful book about what it takes to truly change something about our lives, they discovered several surprises. This […]
