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Money tips that respect your time.
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WHAT WE DO
We can all be Money Crashers
Anyone, at any stage of life, can get good with money. It just has to be explained straight. That’s what we do, one short tip at a time.
Educate
Every post teaches one useful thing. No lectures, no jargon, no filler.
Research
We compare rates, fees, and current promotions across the market. You just pick from the winners.
Enrich
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Latest Money Tips
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Your First $1,000Â – Cushion, Card Debt, Then One Fund in a Roth IRA
Send your first $1,000 to the earliest step you haven’t finished: a starter emergency fund, then any credit card balance, then a Roth IRA holding one broad fund. Collect your full 401(k) match from your paycheck along the way. It’s an instant return, and none of it comes out of the $1,000.
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Investing $10,000Â – Fill a Roth IRA, Then Buy a Broad Index Fund
With $10,000 to invest, use accounts with tax breaks before a regular one. Take any 401(k) match you’re missing, pay off high-interest debt, and top up your emergency fund. Then fill this year’s Roth IRA, and put the rest in a broad, low-cost index fund in a brokerage account.
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In Your 40s, Check Your Retirement Progress – Then Max Your 401(k) & IRA
Your 40s still give new savings time to compound, so check now whether you’re on track for retirement. Fidelity’s guideline is to have at least three times your salary saved by 40 and six times by 50. Push your 401(k) contributions toward the yearly limit, fund an IRA, and start adding some bonds to your investments.
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Teens Can Invest Before 18Â – Ask a Parent to Open a Custodial Account
You can’t open a brokerage account alone until you’re an adult, but a parent can set up a custodial account for you now, or a custodial Roth IRA once you earn money from work. Put your first dollars into one broad index fund and leave them alone, since money invested as a teen gets the most years to grow.
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Save Money · Taxes · Giving
Gifted Stock Carries Your Cost Basis – Give It to Someone in the 0% Bracket
To give stock, transfer the shares to the recipient’s brokerage account or a child’s custodial account. Your cost basis, what you paid, goes with them, so the recipient owes tax on your gain when they sell. Give appreciated shares to someone whose low income means 0% tax on long-term gains, and sell losing shares yourself to deduct the loss.
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In Your 30s, Save 15% for Retirement – Get There One Raise at a Time
In your 30s, push the share of your pay you save for retirement toward 15%, counting any employer match, by adding half of every raise to your contribution. Keep most of that money in stocks, and don’t cut those contributions to pay for a house or the kids’ college.
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Reading a Stock Quote – You Buy at the Ask, Not the Last Price
You buy at a stock quote’s ask, the lowest price a seller will take, and sell at its bid, the highest a buyer will pay. The gap between them costs you the moment you buy, and it’s usually widest on stocks that trade few shares. When it’s wide, use a limit order to set the most you’ll pay.
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Best High-Limit Credit Cards – Minimum Lines From $5,000, or No Preset Limit
Get the Chase Sapphire Preferred if you want a credit line of at least $5,000 for a $95 annual fee, and add an American Express card with no preset spending limit once you need more room. Your income, debts, and credit still decide how much room you get on either one.
WHY WE DO IT
Money Crashers’ mission
Money should work for you, not the other way around. We keep you on the right side of that deal with tips you can act on the day you read them.
We only write what’s useful.
Every piece starts with the same question: how useful is this to our readers? When the honest answer is “not very,” we don’t publish it.
We do the homework so you don’t have to.
We run the numbers, read the fine print, and weigh the alternatives. You get the conclusion, not the pile of research.