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CEO & Co-founder
Andrew started his career at a Chicago hedge fund and quickly noticed a problem: the people who most needed financial guidance weren’t getting any. He co-founded Money Crashers in 2009 to fix that with free, plain-language money education. He’s been interviewed by MSNBC, CBS News, NBC News, and Fox News, and featured in Forbes and US News & World Report. Off the clock he plays ice hockey and tennis, and meditates. Andrew holds a bachelor’s in economics from Brown University.
If you’re unmarried, pay most of your home’s costs, and your child lives with you most of the year, file as head of household, not single. Compared with filing single, you get a bigger standard deduction and more income taxed at the lowest rates. If you’ve filed as single before, amend recent returns to get back what you overpaid.
Before you ask your card issuer for a higher credit limit, find out whether the request triggers a hard inquiry. Some issuers review requests with a soft inquiry that never affects your score, while others run a hard one. Read the request’s terms or call your issuer, and back out if the answer is hard, unless your balances run high.
Before you visit a dealership, get a car loan pre-approval from a bank or credit union. A dealer who arranges your financing can mark up the rate the lender approved and keep part of the difference. Walk in with a pre-approval, and the dealer has a rate to beat.
When the pay band caps your base salary, it doesn’t cap the rest of your job offer. Accept the salary limit out loud, then ask for the two or three other terms worth the most to you, such as a signing bonus or extra paid time off. Get each one written into the offer letter before you sign.
Social Security figures your benefit from its earnings record, not your pay stubs, so a year that never posted can lower every check. Pull your record from a my Social Security account and compare each year with your W-2s. Fix errors fast, since a year gets hard to correct after about three years.
If you carry a credit card balance, your statement has a Minimum Payment Warning box. Besides the cost of paying only the minimum, it lists the monthly payment that clears the balance in three years, unless your minimum already does. Set autopay to that amount and keep it fixed as the balance falls.
When a debt collector contacts you, don’t pay or agree that the debt is yours. Read the validation notice, then dispute the debt in writing before the end date it lists. A dispute in that window makes the collector stop collecting until it sends you verification.
When your bills come due before the paycheck that covers them, ask to move the due dates. Most card issuers let you pick a new date online, and many lenders and utilities will do the same. Set each bill to land after the payday that covers it, and the late fees and overdrafts stop.
Interest on a Treasury bill (T-bill) is free of state and local income tax, but savings account interest isn’t. Multiply your savings account’s rate by one minus your state and local tax rate. If a T-bill yields more than that, it’s the better place for cash you won’t need for a few months.
Your landlord’s insurance covers the building, not anything you own inside it. Renters insurance does, and adds liability coverage plus the extra cost of a place to stay if a fire or burst pipe forces you out, for about $15 a month on average. Get a quote this week, starting with your car insurer if you have one.
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