You’ll be more successful reaching your financial goals if you give yourself a target range rather than a single number you want to achieve. It sounds weird, but a new study shows that we’re more motivated when we have a little wiggle room in our goal.
debt
Is Asia Heading for a Debt Crisis?
Amid worries of Asia’s rising debt, an HSBC study notes that, based on ratios of bank credit to GDP for the region, “leverage is now higher than at the peak before the Asian crisis in 1997”
The Recession in Pictures: America Copes with a Stagnant Economy
Economist Kenneth Rogoff says we shouldn’t call what happened to America in 2008 and 2009 a “Great Recession,” because it understates the true nature of the crisis. Recessions are frequent events from which we can quickly …
Household Debt Has Fallen to 2006 Levels, But Not Because We’ve Grown More Frugal
U.S. household debt has finally fallen back to pre-recession levels. So, we’ve finally learned our lesson about spending more than we make, right? Well, not really. The real reason our debt has dipped is that so many Americans …
The Student Debt Epidemic: 1 in 5 Households Now Owe Student Loans
The Great Recession has pushed student debt to historic levels, and for the first time ever, almost 20% of U.S. households have outstanding educational loans.
Yikes — When Debt Costs You a Job
Unpaid credit card debts can cause a whole host of headaches, from annoying collection calls all the way to wage garnishment. In the case of this one borrower, though, his debt situation snowballed so badly it cost him his job.
Lenders Use a New Dirty Trick to Jail You For Small Debts
Debt collectors can call you, hound you and make you feel like a lowlife, but here in America, they can’t throw you in jail over your unpaid bills. Or can they? A sneaky tactic called “body attachment” is a new twist on this …
Terrible Financial Advice: Top 10 Tips You Shouldn’t Follow
It seems like everyone from bloggers to your next-door neighbor doles out financial advice these days. It can be difficult figuring out who to believe, and bad tips can pop up as frequently as thunderstorms in the summertime. In …
The Verdict Is In: Tackle Smaller Debts First
Financial experts have long debated the best strategy for paying down debt. Some advise paying off debt in the order of APR, taking on the loan with the highest interest rate first. With this approach, you reduce the amount spent …
5 Smart Strategies to Eliminate Your Credit Card Debt
Minimum payment due, reads the box on your credit-card statement. What an enticing idea: Pay a small amount and you’re off the hook for the whole bill—for a while, anyway. Alas, as the more than 45% of Americans who carry a …
Country Half Full: An Optimistic Take On Our National Debt Nightmare
It’s rare that a United Nations report can engender optimism about anything, let alone America’s finances. But a recently issued (and mostly overlooked) study from the global body’s International Human Dimensions Program might …
Would You Pay $520 in Interest to Borrow $375? 12 Million Americans Did Last Year
Americans spend more than $7.4 billion on payday loans every year. That’s hardly peanuts, especially when you consider that these billions are earned $50 to $100 at a time, often off the backs of the Americans who can least …
