Many people look forward to retirement as a time to travel, garden, play golf, or visit their grandchildren. Others have no definite plans beyond a vague idea about "relaxing." When they leave work, they sometimes find themselves feeling a bit lost, not sure what to do with themselves without a job to go to every day.If you're still not sure how you want to spend your retirement, here's one option you may not have considered: Take advantage of your golden years to go back to school.Many colleges across the country offer cheap or even free classes for senior citizens. In most cases, … [Read more...]
Amy Livingston
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – Coverage & How It Works
In 1996, 10.6 million American children — one out of every seven kids in the country — had no health insurance, according to a report from the Census Bureau. For kids from low-income families, the numbers were even worse; nearly one out of four poor children were uninsured.By 2015, according to a report from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, that number had fallen to 3.5 million. More than 95% of all U.S. kids were now insured, more than at any point in the country's history.There were two big factors behind this change. One was the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), … [Read more...]
How Much Does Your Job Really Pay? – Calculating Your Hourly Wage
If you're like most Americans — about 70%, according to a 2017 Gallup poll — you're not that happy with your current job. Maybe you've fantasized about quitting to do something more satisfying, like starting a small business or becoming a stay-at-home parent. But in the end, you've stuck with your dull job because, well, you need the money.If you're in this position, here's something to think about: chances are, your job isn't bringing in as much money as you think it is.Most jobs have work-related expenses that erode the value of your paycheck, such as commuting costs, meals, and a … [Read more...]
How to Prevent & Avoid Child Identity Theft – Protection For Your Kids
Picture this: One day, you're going through your mail, and you find a summons for jury duty. The funny thing is, it's not for you; it's for your child, who's only 8 years old. It must be some kind of bureaucratic screw-up, so you toss it in the bin.Shrugging this situation off is a perfectly natural reaction, but it's also a big mistake. When a child receives a jury summons, or any other mail that's clearly meant for an adult, it nearly always means the child is a victim of identity theft.Child identity theft is a major problem in the United States. According to a 2018 study by Javelin … [Read more...]
Should You Buy a Starter Home as a First-Time Home Buyer?
Shopping for your first home can be a bit discouraging, especially in a hot housing market like Boston or the San Francisco Bay Area. In these areas, even modest single-family homes commonly sell for upwards of half a million dollars. For many Millennials, even raising the down payment on a house that expensive seems like a pipe dream.If you're in this position, the key to owning your dream house one day could be to buy a home that isn't your dream house right now. By making your first home purchase an inexpensive "starter home," you can build up equity that you can cash in to buy your … [Read more...]
6 Ways Pinching Pennies by Being Cheap Can Cost You Dollars
When you're living on a tight budget, you get in the habit of pinching pennies wherever you can. You switch off lights in any room you aren't in, drink only tap water, and always buy generic brands at the grocery store. You compare prices for every purchase, large or small, and always choose the product that costs the least.However, the best price isn’t always the best deal. In some cases, you'll actually save money by spending more. Here are several penny-pinching habits that can turn around and bite you in the backside, as well as ways to avoid them. 1. Bulk Buys Gone BadSuppose … [Read more...]
How to Deal With the Family Glitch in the Affordable Care Act
In 2014, a woman wrote to Consumer Reports with a problem. She said her husband was able to get health insurance at his job for $130 a month, which was about 4% of their monthly income. However, adding her to his plan would have raised the cost to $415 a month, more than 12% of their income. Was there anything they could do, she asked?Sadly, the answer was no. In theory, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — better known as Obamacare — is supposed to guarantee all workers access to a health care plan they can afford. Unfortunately, the IRS has interpreted the law to mean that workers are only … [Read more...]
How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck
According to a 2017 CareerBuilder survey, 78% of all workers say they live paycheck to paycheck. It's not just low-wage workers who have this problem, either. Nearly 1 out of 10 workers making $100,000 or more say they always or usually live paycheck to paycheck, and 59% of them are in debt.Living paycheck to paycheck is like being stuck in a hamster wheel; no matter how fast you run, you can never get ahead. Every penny you make goes toward paying the bills, and a major unexpected expense can completely derail your budget, sending you scrambling for the credit cards and driving you deeper … [Read more...]
4 Fears That Cost You Money and How to Overcome Them
Everyone, from powerful world leaders to babies in their cribs, is afraid of something. Fear is a normal human response to danger — and most of the time, it's a useful one. It can lead you to steer clear of threats, like a wild animal or the edge of a cliff. It can even protect you from financial dangers, like excessively risky investments.However, sometimes fear works against you. When fear gets out of control, it can lead you to shy away from things that aren't dangerous and could even be helpful. Because fear is a primal emotion, it can overpower your reason and lead you to make unwise … [Read more...]
How to Lock or Freeze Your Credit and Why You Should Do It
In September 2017, hackers broke into the servers of the credit bureau Equifax, gaining access to the personal information of roughly 143 million Americans. In the wake of this attack, many financial experts urged consumers to freeze their credit reports to prevent identity theft. By doing this, they could completely stop any attempt to open new credit accounts in their name.Over the course of the month, searches for "credit freeze" on Google quadrupled. Within six months, research from Fundera revealed that nearly one in five Americans had frozen their credit after the attack. Younger … [Read more...]
What Do Rising Interest Rates Mean for You? – Effects & How to Prepare
For much of the past decade, interest rates have been at historic lows. Interest rates set by most lenders tend to go up and down based on the federal funds target rate, or the rate at which banks can borrow from other banks, which is set by the Federal Reserve. This rate has ranged from around 1% to over 19% over the decades, but in the wake of the 2008 recession, it dropped to nearly zero and stayed there for five years. This made borrowing money cheap, encouraging consumers and businesses to spend - but it also discouraged saving, because the interest on bank accounts was so low.Since … [Read more...]
