Smart On Money

Stop Acting Rich: Don’t Allow Displays Of Wealth To Substitute For Real Wealth

August 13, 2010

We all have friends that love to buy the finer things in life. They drive nice cars, live in a big house, and when they dine out they always go to the expensive places with the trendy eats. In short, they live a high dollar lifestyle where they love to display their wealth for everyone [...]

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Will The Bush Tax Cuts Be Extended? We Should Have An Answer Soon.

August 11, 2010

A few weeks back I wrote about how the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts will be expiring at the end of the year. At the time it really seemed quite possible that the tax cuts would be allowed to expire, and we would ALL be paying higher taxes come January 1st, 2011. Contrary to [...]

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What Kind Of Insurance Do I Need To Have?

August 10, 2010

I haven’t talked about insurance very much on this site, but I do think it is one of the more under-appreciated aspects of personal finance, and one that far too many people neglect. Insurance is so wonderful because it takes the monetary risks associated with a catastrophic life event, and transfers the risks of [...]

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Credit Card Companies Find New Ways To Take Your Money After Passage Of CARD Act Of 2009

August 9, 2010

Earlier this year in February 2010, Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) of 2009 took effect. The law was supposed to be a a consumer friendly piece of legislation that aimed to put some limits on what the credit card companies could do in regards to charging exorbitant fees, upping interest rates with [...]

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How Does A Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Work?

August 5, 2010

This year my company informed us that our company’s health care costs were starting to get out of control. Premiums for employees and for the company’s portion of the bill were rising. With all the uncertainty that has come with Obama’s Health Care plan and as to what will be covered in the future, this [...]

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Personal Finance Basics: The Power Of Compound Interest

August 4, 2010

We’ve all probably heard that we need to think about retirement, even from a young age. We’re told that we need to get a retirement account, and start saving – the earlier the better! Have you ever wondered why you’re better off if you start saving for your future earlier? It’s the wonders of compound [...]

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When You Make Financial Mistakes, Don’t Allow It To Snowball

August 3, 2010

I was thinking earlier this week about why sometimes people will find themselves in dire financial straights – situations where they can’t seem to get out, even when they seem to have the resources or the smarts to be able to. After thinking about it, I realized that a lot of the problems we get [...]

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Obama Administration Offers $1.5 Billion In Foreclosure Funding For Hardest Hit States

August 2, 2010

Foreclosure Prevention Fund For Hard Hit States

These past few years have been tough ones for homeowners, with home prices dropping, people finding that their homes are underwater, and foreclosure filings increasing all the time. In fact, there have been almost 2 million foreclosures so far this year! RealtyTrac® the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Midyear 2010 U.S. [...]

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Three Steps You Can Take To Turn Your Financial Life Around

July 29, 2010

After we got married just over 8 years ago, my wife and I entered the marriage with more debt than we would have liked. My wife had zero debt, and I came in with student loans, credit card debt (for our honeymoon) and a loan for my car. We weren’t happy with having so much [...]

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How To Sell Your House Fast In A Tough Real Estate Market

July 28, 2010

A few years back my wife and I were selling our townhouse, and the market was at it’s height. Sellers were easily getting the asking price for their homes, and some were even getting more than one offer – sometimes above the asking price. Times were good if you were a seller, however, the problem [...]

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Do I Qualify For The Making Home Affordable Home Refinance And Modification Program?

July 27, 2010

Over the past year and a half millions of people have attempted to refinance or modify their home mortgages in order to help them stay in their home. Others have just taken advantage of the program in order to be able to refinance their home under better terms than might otherwise have been available. Our [...]

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Personal Finance Basics: Live Below Your Means

July 26, 2010

Last week I started a series called “Personal Finance Basics“. In the series I plan on talking about basic concepts of personal finance, going back to the simple concepts that we sometimes forget or ignore. Last time I talked about the idea of paying yourself first in order to ensure that your savings grow – [...]

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