Spend

Don’t Go Into Debt For Credit Card Rewards. Seriously.

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No one gets rich from credit card rewards. We always recommend spending with a debit card (I literally just wrote about this), but I understand the appeal in using a credit card to get rewards … if you pay it off each month. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like most people are. In fact, nearly 40% […]

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Why Do Rich People Use Credit Cards?

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Reasonable people can have a reasonable dialogue about whether or not credit cards have value. We’ve preached that using a debit card is the best way to spend, but fair arguments can be made that if you pay off your balance every month with the right card, you can accrue extra benefits for your normal […]

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Pay Your Loans Using These Tips

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If you want to become debt-free, you must work toward clearing your loans. Millions of Americans are living with debt, with a recent study showing that the average household in the nation has credit card balances of over $16,748.  Debt is brought by so many things, including education, unexpected bills, lifestyle costs and home expenses. But […]

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5 Ways to Speed Up the Car Buying Process

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Did you know that you can speed up the car buying process? It’s true! Plus, you don’t have to spend hours at the dealership, or wait days to hear back about financing options. If you have ever shopped at a dealership later in the evening or on the weekend, you may have been told you […]

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Visa is Paying Businesses to Stop Taking Cash

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The businesses with the most incentive to produce a cashless economy are accelerating the process, and they’re not being coy about it. Visa has launched a new initiative that will pay small businesses $10,000 each for upgrading their payment technology and marketing expenses … if the businesses agree to stop accepting cash from their customers. […]

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Is There Anything More Annoying than the Chip?

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I hope you’ll let me get on my soapbox for a bit, because I have a gripe to complain about. OK – it’s not really a huge complaint – but it’s definitely one of those annoying things that I can’t be the only person who gets annoyed about. It’s the chip.

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Millennials, Money, and Social Media

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When I was writing the post about how few people have $1,000 in their savings, I was struck by an observation about millennials: that their financial situation is influenced by what they see and experience on social media. It’s not like it’s an odd correlation; keeping up with the joneses has been an expression since […]

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The Psychology of How You Spend

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How much does it really matter how you spend? Is there really a big difference between using cash, debit cards, credit cards, or smartphone payment apps? You know that we recommend using a debit card for purchasing, since it gives you all the convenience and almost all of the same security as a credit card, […]

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Can Coin Revolutionize Your Wallet?

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I’ve got a lot of bank accounts. They all have different purposes, so I’m not consolidating them anytime soon, but I have a lot of them. Between my credit union, my regular bank, my online savings bank, my business bank, my HSA account, and more, that means a lot of cards in my wallet. It […]

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Verizon Now Charging for Online – But Not Automatic – Payments

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Verizon has announced that they will begin charging customers a $2 fee for paying their bills online via credit card, in order to “continue to support these single bill payment options in these channels and is designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make single bill payments in […]

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Day 6: Get Realistic With Your Spending

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What do you spend your money on? Your mortgage/rent, food, utilities, entertainment, clothes, cell phone … what else? Do you know how much you spend on each every month? How about your irregular expenses — what are they and how much do they cost? Today is all about understanding your spending.

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Day 4: Categorize Your Spending

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If you don’t know where you are, how will you know where you’re going and how to get there? Today’s entry is all about better understanding where your money goes. How much are you spending? What are you spending it on? Is it in line with your expectations? Thanks to the financial tools we have […]

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Is It Possible to Completely Avoid Black Friday?

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Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and by the time you read this, you’ll know whether or not you bought anything. There’s a certain thrill most of us get when we buy things. But, if you’re anything like me, there’s also a high chance of buyer’s remorse (and I don’t buy […]

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