budget
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Understanding IRA Inheritance: A Guide for Beneficiaries
One way you might end up with a retirement account is by inheriting an IRA. If a loved one passes and leaves you the assets in an IRA, you can use these assets to your advantage. However, it’s i
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Debt Prioritization: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Out of Debt
Your mailbox is full of bills and you’re starting to receive phone calls from debt collectors. You know that you need to get your financial house in order, but it seems like you never have enough mone
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Understanding Form W-4: Adjusting Your Paycheck for Optimal Tax Withholding
It’s only been a few weeks since many people rushed to file their taxes before the tax deadline in April. Were you surprised this year at how much you got back from the government? Or did you en
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Tax Record Retention: How Long Do You Need to Keep Tax Documents?
With tax day behind you it can be easy to forget about all of that paperwork until next year. You can’t just stuff the tax return in a drawer for the rest of time because you’ll eventually
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Costco Membership: Is It Worth the Cost in 2024?
My brother recently paid me a visit and while he was out here, I told him about my plans to buy a large wooden play set for our backyard so our daughter and her friends can have a place to play withou
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Understanding Status Spending: A Timeless Financial Lesson
Back in the dark ages that were 1980s, anyone who was anyone in my elementary school wore Jordache jeans. My sister and I, of course, wanted to fit in with the popular kids and begged our parents for
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Securing a Classic Corvette: A Story of Persuasion and Passion
I wasn’t too into cars when I was growing up. I remember having a car calendar when I was a young kid – it had an assortment of exotic cars and regular sports cars, such as the Ferrari Tes
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Affordable Classic Cars: Find Your Dream Ride Under $10,000
A few years ago my wife and I sold our car on Craiglist. That was the beginning of a hobby for me as I took to regularly scanning Craigslist on my smartphone. My favorite thing to look for is old musc
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Understanding Your Effective Tax Rate: A Simple Guide
The tax code is one of those things that never seems completely clear. You may know that there are different tax brackets, but you’re not sure how that affects what you pay each April. Add in the talk
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Top 33 Christmas Gift Ideas Under $50 | Affordable Presents for Everyone
With Thanksgiving now a happy memory, now is the perfect time to sit down, relax and plan out your holiday shopping for the year. Take out a pen and paper and write down everyone you’ll need to
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Smart Christmas Spending: Tips for a Budget-Friendly Holiday
Do you wake up on January 1st every year with a hangover? No, not that kind. I mean a spending hangover. According to the National Retail Federation, the average American anticipates spending about $7
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The Power of Small Decisions: How Everyday Choices Shape Your Life
You may think that each small decision you make doesn’t matter. But our small day-to-day decisions can have a disproportionate affect on our lives. The Tyranny of Small Decisions In the late 1960s, ec
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Avoid Costly Mistakes: Common Home Buying Errors
In a perfect world, buying a house would be an easy and fun experience. And truthfully, it is exhilarating finding a new home and laying claim to it. But it’s also frustrating, exhausting, arduous, an
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Prioritizing Debt Repayment: Good Debt vs. Investments
I hate debt. It’s really that simple for me. I am uncomfortable with the idea of owing money, and so I generally avoid debt as much as possible, and I work to pay off any debt I have as quickly as pos
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Estate Planning Essentials: Protecting Your Family's Future
After my aunt—who took care of her elderly mother and disabled sister—passed away suddenly at 52, our entire family scrambled to try to find the paperwork and insurance information that specified what
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Understanding the 1099-K Form: What You Need to Know
There is a new 1099 form in town. Many of us are already familiar with the 1099-MISC, especially if we work from home as contractors. The 1099 is meant for income that comes, in a fairly regular way,
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Debt Payoff: Calculate Your Daily Cost & Create a Realistic Plan
Numbers can be powerful. And they can be fun. One thing I like to do is work backwards from an end goal. There are several benefits of doing this, one of which is to break things down into bite size b
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Diaper Size Guide & Tips: What to Do When You're Out of Diapers
One thing that amazes me is how quickly children grow. Our newest daughter is almost six weeks old, and she is growing much faster than our first daughter did. We’ve already retired her first se
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Understanding Your Spending Style: Are You a Saver or Spender?
Some people have a hard time spending money, while it easily slips through the hands of others. Why is this? There are a lot of reasons, but a lot of it has to do with our internal motivations and att
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Lawn Care Services: Are They Worth the Investment?
When my wife and I moved into our new home a year ago, it marked the first time I had to take care of my own lawn. Before this, I had always lived in apartments, or in a townhome, both of which includ
budget
- From Budget Dread to Budget Freedom: A Personal Transformation
- Mastering Credit Cards: A Guide to Smart Spending & Debt Avoidance
- Building a Financial Safety Net: Krys' Debt Payoff Journey
- Budget Snapshot: 24-Year-Old Living with Roommate, $62K Income
- 30 Days to Grocery Savings: Proven Strategies to Reduce Food Costs
- Buying vs. Renting: Which is More Affordable in Today's Market?
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Trading Currency & Commodity Correlations: A Profitable StrategyCorrelations between the worlds most heavily traded commodities and currency pairs are common. For example, the Canadian dollar (CAD) is correlated to oil prices due to exporting, while Japan is sus...
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Understanding ECOA Credit Report Codes: What They MeanWhat Do ECOA Codes Mean on Credit Reports? The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is a federal law that prohibits lenders from using discriminatory practices when dealing with current and potential...
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IRS Extends Tax Filing Deadline to May 17, 2024: Impact on Stimulus & UnemploymentFilers now get more time to submit t...
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Retirement Healthcare Costs: What Seniors Need to Know for 2025A 65-year-old retiring in 2025 can expect to pay $172,500 on average for healthcare and medical expenses throughout retirement. Thats according to Fidelity’s 2025 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate, w...