Michael Foster
Michael Foster earned a B.A. in English at UCLA and went on to travel around Europe and Asia for a decade before coming to NYC. At one point, he got a Ph.D. Nowadays, he thinks and writes a lot about personal finance and investing.
How People Use Credit Cards in Foreign Countries Other Than the U.S.
When it comes to economic issues, the media has a love affair with hyperbole. For instance, in 2010, CBS News ran a chilling report on American consumer debt. Entitled "Addicted to Debt," the story...
Understanding the Cost of Living in Thailand – Rent, Food & Entertainment
How would you like to live in a tropical paradise where a meal at a restaurant costs $2, a taxi ride costs $3, and apartments rent for $200 per month? For decades, Thailand has remained...
Understanding How Student Loan Debt Affects Your Credit Score
It can be hard for students and young people to build a good credit score. You need good credit to get a loan, but you need to get a loan to build up good...
What Is a Mortgage REIT (mREIT) – Definition, Risks & Suitability
Publicly traded REITs (real estate investment trusts) have attracted growing investor interest lately, thanks to their high dividends. While a large cap stock rarely pays a dividend yield above 5%, it is not uncommon...
Early Retirement Extreme: Can You Really Retire in 5 Years?
How long do you need to work to retire? Fifty years? Forty? On the contrary, you may actually be able to retire in only five years. This is the message of Jacob Lund Fisker, who...
5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score After a Foreclosure
Foreclosure rates more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2010 as the subprime mortgage crisis affected every neighborhood, suburb, and urban area in America. In 2010, the number of loans in foreclosure spiked at 4.6%...
How Debt Management Affects Your Credit Score – 4 Tips for Improvement
In 2000, I left America to study abroad, and thought I was being responsible by closing a few credit card accounts that I wasn't planning on using. Big mistake. Not only did closing credit accounts lower...
