Hey, kids! Start saving your lawn-mowing or babysitting money. As the cost of higher education skyrockets, the amount parents are contributing has shrunk significantly since the pre-recession years. According to Fidelity …
Planning
Experts Don’t Always Have Expertise
We hear a lot of questions lately along the lines of, “How do I know who to believe?” It’s a good question, and relevant not just in personal finance, but in other areas, especially politics, economics and health, where we’re …
How Medical Debt Sickens Your Credit Score
More Americans are struggling to pay their medical bills, a hardship that could have a detrimental effect on their credit scores. According to the 2010 Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, a sobering 29 percent — …
15 Financial Moves to Make Right Now
Most of the best financial advice is timeless. It remains sound in good times and in bad. But this particular moment of economic and market turmoil has some unique characteristics, so Moneyland put together a handful of smart …
Health Care Industry Growth Beginning to Slow
The health care industry has been one of the bright spots in a dark economy in the last few years. But job growth in the industry now looks as if it’s starting to slow.
Back-to-School Special: 5 Top-of-the-Class Credit Cards for Students
While the Credit CARD Act cut down on a lot of the shady marketing practices credit card issuers used to target college students, there are still a plethora of cards out there for the campus crowd, and wading through them can be …
Social Security Declares 14,000 Living People Dead Every Year
Are you dead? No? Well, the Social Security Administration might think so, considering that every year thousands of people are incorrectly entered into its Death Master File.
Student Loan Delinquency Rate on the Rise
If you believe conventional wisdom, student loans are “good” debt: They’re safe, lead to higher incomes, and generally pay off in the long run. The problem is that an increasing amount of evidence is showing that this thinking is distinctly unwise.
How to Boost Your Income
I’ve written a lot — at TIME Moneyland and other sites — about the importance of taking charge of your own financial life. Nobody cares more about your money than you do. If you’re not willing to be smart with your money, you …
Why It Pays to Ignore the Financial News
When it comes to money, it often pays to ignore financial news. The media is in the business of selling news, and to do that, they sensationalize it. Fueled by the over-eager reporting, irrational exuberance can quickly turn to …
Financial Oversight ≠ Financial Education
The stock market began its recent slide on July 22, just a day after the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau went live. It’s an ironic twist. The bureau, authorized by the Dodd-Frank Reform Act last year, is supposed to …
5 Ways to Keep Economic Crisis from Driving You Crazy
Everywhere I turn, I see tales of financial doom and gloom. The stock market is crashing! The dollar is inflating! Oil is peaking and homes are foreclosing! If you listen to the breathless media, it’s 2008 all over again.
