I finally broke down and decided to review YNAB, better known to some as You Need A Budget, the premier personal budget software package. And even though I’m a professional financial advisor and Certified Financial Planner, what you do financially dwarfs the importance of my work. That’s right. Even if you had Warren Buffet working [...]
Lots of people name “getting out of debt” as their top priority for the coming year. Well, if you are one of those people, the most important first step you should take is to become a master at budgeting. The good news is that you can make a budget that works even if you’ve tried [...]
You can pay off a car loan quicker and cheaper than you think. And if you have a car loan that carries a high interest rate, your number one priority should be to pay it off as early as possible. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to do. 1. Determine how much money you need to increase [...]
You may think it’s impossible, but I’m here to tell you that you can control spending easily. The first step to doing that is to know what you spend. Make sense? Now, if you are sick and tired of hearing me suggest that you use software like You Need A Budget to track your spending, you [...]
You might be wondering what a Certified Financial Planner ™ knows about music lessons for kids. Well, I’ll admit I’m no George Gershwin. But all work and no music makes Neal a very dull Pilgrim. My entire family is actually pretty involved with music. Each of my children has taken up one instrument (at least), [...]
If you don’t know how expensive dental work is, I have two things to say to you. First, you’ve been very lucky so far – keep brushing and flossing. Second, you’ll find out how costly it is eventually. I know at least one person who needed to look for jobs during retirement just to pay [...]
As the father of three daughters, when you ask, “How much should a wedding cost?” my answer is simple. Less. A lot less. Fortunately, there are dozens of ideas that will slash the cost of even the most ambitious wedding. It goes without saying that you should take it easy on engagement ring prices. But [...]
If you want a lower cell phone bill, I can share a quick tip to help you achieve just that. First, some background. I called my cell phone provider to report a problem with my phone yesterday. While we were finding a remedy to the problem, he looked over my bill. He saw that we [...]
If you need a car, you need a car. The question is, should you turn to car financial services companies if you need to borrow money? And if you have no other choice, how should you deal with them? Before we can address these issues, it’s important to understand that car financial services companies are not [...]
If you have an expensive wedding ring, you might consider buying wedding ring insurance. The question came to me after our friend put her hand in our van door as it was closing. Don’t worry…the van door is fine. The ring and her finger were another story….. What risks do you face? Before we go [...]
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