Do you feel poor ? If so, you aren’t alone. The average American’s net worth has declined by 35% to $66,740 from 2005 to 2010. Not surprisingly, over that time period the average stock market portfolio and home equity value declined by about a third. To make matters a little worse, the loss in average […]
Healthy People Planning for End of Life Now. How and Why.
This may seem like a super morbid topic but if you have a family, I can’t think of any subject more important than planning for end of life. I know first-hand what it’s like when people don’t take this step. Both my parents passed away by the time I was 17. They had no financial […]
2 Overlooked Ways to Save Money Traveling
With a little bit of planning you can save money traveling – a lot of money. Sure, you can score last-minute deals on flights, like weekend fares. But overall, you’ll pay a lot more when you wait too long to book your flights. Let me share two ways you can save serious cash when it […]
How Much to Contribute to 401k Plans
You might be confused over how much to contribute to 401k plans at work – or even if you should contribute or not. For now, let’s talk about the confusion over the amount to put in. It is puzzling. That’s because there are actually two sets of rules. The most important guidelines are set down […]
Home Repair and Maintenance – What Are The Real Home Ownership Costs?
When it comes to real home ownership costs, most people turn a blind eye to home repair and maintenance. In fact, a home repair friend was doing some work on my house and gave me this sobering factoid recently: “The average house costs $300 to $500 per month in repairs and maintenance. And that can […]
Are Mutual Funds Good or Evil?
Are mutual funds good investments given all the alternatives you have like index funds and ETF’s? This is a good and sensible question. We are in the “Golden Age of Frugality” after all . There are no two ways about it. And mutual funds cost more to own than ETFs, index funds or stocks. That […]