5 Tips for Managing Your Child’s College Expenses
One of the important parts of financial planning involves dealing with your child’s current or future college expenses. Even though you want your child to avoid dealing with the stress of heavy student loans right out of college, you also don’t want to make too many sacrifices that would obliterate your own finances. Here are some […]
3 Sources of Free or Low-Cost Help With Student Loans
Student loan repayments are increasingly taking a big financial toll on many U.S. households. Americans now owe $1.2 trillion in student loan debt, and the average college graduate from the Class of 2014 has about $33,000 in student loans. Unfortunately, more than one in eight outstanding student loans is currently in default, recent data released […]
Video: How Your Bankruptcy Will Impact Your Future Spouse’s Credit
A subscriber to AskTheMoneyCoach.com is getting married, but recently filed for bankruptcy. The person wants to know how her bankruptcy will impact her future spouse’s credit report. According to recent data from the American Bankruptcy Institute, there were 1.2 million personal bankruptcy filings in the United States in 2012. If it’s increasingly difficult for you to […]
Are Your Student Loans the Reason You Can’t Find or Keep a Good Job?
A reader of AskTheMoneyCoach.com wrote me because she felt that her student loans were holding her back, and had become a big financial problem. As it turns out, her real money problem isn’t the higher education debt she has – it’s the chronic unemployment situation she’s endured. Economists say you are technically among the ranks […]
Four Smart Alternatives to 72 Month Car Loans
I recently wrote about the pros and cons of taking on 72-month or 84-month car loans. If you read my previous article, you no doubt noticed that there were a lot more “cons” than “pros.” With all of these cons, it’s no wonder that some financial pros, like Clark Howard, say that you should just […]
The Financial Pros and Cons of 72-Month or 84-Month Car Loans
If you’re in the market for a new car, chances are you want to keep your payments as low as possible, preferably under $500 a month. Car dealers know this, which is why 6 year or 72-month car loans are more popular than ever. Even 7 year or 84-month car loans – yes, some auto […]
How Student Loans Impact Your Credit Score
You may have taken out a student loan several years ago, but have you ever wondered how it affects your credit score? In the eyes of a lender or creditor, a student loan is another debt but the financial ramifications of a student loan on your credit score are different than standard loans. Federal Student […]
Tips for Dealing with Mounting Debt
Results of a study recently released by the Urban Institute revealed that more than 35 percent of Americans are behind with debt collectors. Falling behind on credit card bills or even missing a few payments for that cellphone can be reported to the credit bureaus and hurt your credit score. It’s a disturbing trend among Americans […]
10 Horrible Business Practices That Make Me Shut My Purse
U.S. businesses are increasingly courting women customers. And it’s easy to see why. More and more women are taking an active role in managing their family’s finances, and 44% of all females in America are the primary breadwinners in their households, according to a 2014-2015 study from Prudential. Perhaps that why salespeople, business owners and […]
Manage Your Budget and Debt With These Free Tools
Most Americans want to better budget and manage credit and debt wisely. But the problem is, they don’t know where to start or how to use a number of free tools available to them. So if you missed my interview on Street.com, here are five personal finance tips — as well as five of my […]
How To Avoid Eviction If Your Rent Is Due But You Can’t Pay
Q: I’m only working part-time, my job hours just got cut, and my rent is already past due. How can I avoid getting evicted? A: To avoid eviction when your rent is due in a short period of time, you have at least four options.
Will Credit Counseling Hurt My Credit Rating?
Q: Hello Ms. Khalfani-Cox. Is it better to work with a debt management company and pay off a lot of creditors every month over a long period of time (I would be paying off the full amount of the debt… not settling (debt settlement)). Or is it best to contact each creditor who has reported me to the […]
The Shocking Threat to Your Retirement: It’s Not What You Think
What’s the biggest threat to your future retirement security? If you guessed the disappearance of Social Security, getting downsized in the years before you’d planned to retire, or even losing a bundle in the stock market, you’d be wrong on all counts. The biggest hazard to your financial stability in retirement is something you’ve probably […]
Best Auto Insurance Rates: 3 Proven Ways to Save Big
Learn how to get the best price on auto insurance with these 3 proven strategies. Evergreen guide with FAQs and expert tips.
Financial Fixes for 3 Sneaky Summer Expenses
Summer time is when many of us get a bit lax with our finances – and it’s easy to see why. The weather is nice outside, the kids may be off from school, and vacation or travel plans beckon. None of this puts you in the mindset of watching your bills or sticking to a […]