Leaves are falling and opportunity is knocking! The fall is a great time to make extra money. With Christmas around the corner, some of you may need to start a side job or do a little extra work to pay for gifts and holiday travel. If you have even the slightest entrepreneurial drive, you can earn a little extra money this fall. Here are some fall business ideas to keep you busy. Yardwork Engineer Put on some gloves and set... Read more
I hope you have some sort of savings plan for your future. Whether you use your company 401(k) or an individual retirement account like a Roth IRA, you’ll be better off if you start thinking about it sooner than later. Ok, fair enough. You’ve heard people rant about saving for retirement and how most people don’t start until it’s too late. What good is another article about saving for retirement going to do? Probably not much. So here’s a fairly... Read more
Every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the CPI report. It’s not an exciting report by any means, but it’s interesting to watch these types of economic trends. CPI stands for Consumer Price Index and takes into account the increase in the price of a representative ‘basket’ of goods and services. It doesn’t take into account every increase in price, but gives us an idea of how prices change over time. The CPI-U gives us data on price increases... Read more
Sometimes it’s tempting to think about the life we’re working toward. We can’t wait until _____________ (fill in the blank). That something could be school, a better job, a bigger paycheck, a newer car or house, or better health. Don’t get me wrong, these things can motivate us sometimes when we feel overwhelmed, and can help to stay on track. But when the ‘next phase’ is all that we think about, we risk losing sight of what we have in... Read more
One of my favorite online investment companies (Betterment) just launched a feature called Betterment Gifts. It’s a way for you to set up an online gift registry that others can contribute to. The best part about the gift registry is that your account is invested just like your other Betterment goals, so it’s able to grow over time. Think about it like this – if you are planning on getting married and want to save up for a down payment... Read more
If you’re trying to get out of debt, chances are high that you’ve heard of Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover. In fact, Tim has written a post that summarizes Dave’s well-known Seven Baby Steps. Baby Step number two is an important step for many, because it teaches you how to finally get out of debt. It’s called the Debt Snowball, and here it is in a nutshell. List all of your debts – not including your mortgage –... Read more
Everyone knows that financial experts suggest you have an emergency fund. That’s because when major, unexpected life events happen, such as a job loss or blown car engine, you don’t want to depend on credit cards to bail you out. If you use debt to cover these emergencies, you’ll be going in the wrong direction on the road to building wealth. For this reason, a strong foundation for your financial house should be made up of a well-funded savings account,... Read more
Millions of people are on a debt treadmill. It starts the first time you swipe a credit card to cover a shortfall in your budget. Do that enough times, and before long you’re working to pay credit cards and other forms of debt. The way to avoid that is by becoming self-financing—that’s being able to fully cover your living expenses without having to resort to credit. But how do you get from here to there, especially if you already have... Read more
If you’d like an easy way to keep your hard-earned money out of probate, payable-on-death (P.O.D.) bank accounts are the way to go. With this account, all you need to do is properly notify your bank of whom you want to inherit your money. How it Works As long as you’re alive, the person you named as beneficiary has no rights to the money in your P.O.D. account. You’re free to spend the money, name a different beneficiary, or even... Read more
The following is a personal story of how Whitney and her husband became debt free. They used Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Step Plan to become completely debt free except for their home. If you have a similar story that you would like to share, let us know. Our family is debt free, with the exception of our house, and it feels so good. We are currently looking at refinancing our home and hope to have it paid for in 12... Read more
Faith and Finance
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