Credit cards can be fantastic financial tools. Credit card use can make tracking your personal finances easier. They also give the holder more buying power and flexible payment methods. However, irresponsible use of a credit card can be a very slippery slope. Spending can become addictive, and a tool like a [...]

Debit cards have become one of the most popular methods of payment. This is no surprise, debit cards are a terrific financial tool. I think of debit cards as a happy medium between cash and credit cards. When you use a debit card or an ATM card, you are using your own [...]

In today’s economy, people are finding it more and more difficult to pay their bills. Unemployment and the cost of living is consistently rising, forcing people to spend their savings on necessities. Families are turning to credit cards to make ends meet. Before long, these credit card bills pile up and become an overwhelming mountain [...]

Saving money is one of the best financial decisions one can make. Nothing will teach you the value of the dollar more than saving money. Putting money into a savings account is a good idea if you are trying to save up for a big purchase like an automobile or house. In addition, saving money [...]

Having spent twenty year in finance studying the art of effective money management I can’t tell you how far off the beaten path we have gone as a society when it comes to effective money management. Let me explain, back in the day, after the Great Depression, we became a nation of savers. Naturally after [...]

People charge more to their credit cards than they can afford because they are able to defer the responsibility of having to pay that money back to a future date. Unfortunately, deferring responsibility to the future is just as dangerous as it is easy. When the time comes to pay back the money that you [...]

People go into personal debt for a lot of reasons, but the number one cause is unnecessary overspending. A few unfortunate individuals go into debt because they lose their jobs or have to pay expensive medical bills, but most personal debt is easily avoidable. If you are in debt or close to it, you should [...]

Nearly every family is trying to find ways to save money during this economic recession, but families that have debt to worry about need to put more efforts towards cutting back on expenses than anyone else. Debt consolidation and debt relief programs can help with outstanding debt, but in order to get out of debt [...]

Debt is not a new problem in America, but the worsening economic situation has made it a much bigger one than it used to be. More people are finding themselves in debt with no foreseeable way to pay back everything they owe. However, hiding from debt collectors and letting the situation spiral out of control [...]

A penny may have been worth a lot more when Benjamin Franklin wrote, “a penny saved is a penny earned” in Poor Richard’s Almanack , but the saying’s just as true today as it was back then. The best way to start saving is to take some of your income, no matter how small, and [...]