Monthly Archives: April 2024
Finally, Some Good News About Car Prices?
Yes, Grandpa, everyone knows that a McDonald’s hamburger used to cost a nickel when you were a child, but the price increases of the past few years are not your usual garden variety inflation creep. Even if you are so young that you have not yet needed to renew your driver’s license, you can… Read More »
Financial Literacy Is the First and Easiest Step to Feeling Financially Secure
The feeling that you are in control of your situation is as empowering as it is illusory. By the time you are old enough to live paycheck to paycheck, you know that many of the factors that influence your financial situation are beyond your control. Your medical debt exists because healthcare is unfairly expensive;… Read More »
Tax Refund Dos and Don’ts
If there is a bright side to the insufficient pay that most of us get for our hard work, it is that we at least get a tax refund once a year. The working people of the United States spend every day subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich who have access to expense accounts… Read More »
Car Loans Are Uglier Than Ever
The economic conditions of everyday life in South Florida have never been worse, at least not for as long as today’s working adults can remember. The price of some groceries has decreased since its peak, but overall, grocery receipts are still as painful to look at as they were during the worst days of… Read More »
Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors
Dissolving a company because it has become insolvent or because it has failed to become profitable is a frequent occurrence in the world of entrepreneurship, but that does not mean that it is inexpensive or painless. Filing for bankruptcy protection is an option; all companies and individuals have the right to recourse to the… Read More »
How to Boost Your Credit Score While Living in a Rented Apartment
One of the unpleasant truths about personal finance is that the rich get richer every time they borrow money and every time they make an installment payment toward repaying it, while the rest of us diligently pay our bills every month, usually exhausting our entire paycheck in the process, while our credit score barely… Read More »
Beware of Earned Wage Access
If you have ever taken out a payday loan in person, you would choose almost any other way of borrowing money, if it were available to you. Anything is better than taking a long bus ride when you are exhausted after work and then walking to a poorly lit strip mall with bright neon… Read More »
Paying Down Your Debts One Day at a Time
Getting out of debt is a marathon, not a sprint. The only way to pay off your debts all at once is to receive a windfall such as a lottery win or an inheritance, or else to take out a debt consolidation loan. The first only happens if you are extraordinarily lucky, and only… Read More »
Budgeting Out Loud Is a Prosocial Way to Get Out of Debt
Being broke is lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck, but hardly anyone talks about it. Somehow, it is more socially acceptable to talk about the big splurges that you wish you could afford than about the instant ramen noodles that await you after the long… Read More »