Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Debt Relief Is Part of Your Path Out of Financial Abuse
An article recently published on the People Magazine website reads like voyeuristic clickbait unless you have experienced financial abuse. It tells the story of a young woman who suffered a medical emergency from which she made a full recovery, but which left her with thousands of dollars in medical bills. Her boyfriend gave her… Read More »
Can You Discharge Student Loan Debt in Bankruptcy Court?
In today’s dismal financial climate, almost everyone fantasizes about filing for bankruptcy protections. Even though bankruptcy filings have increased since financial long COVID set in, and even though more than 90 percent of bankruptcy cases that make it to the filing stage result in the discharge of some debts, only a fraction of the… Read More »
Getting Out of Debt With Guaranteed Income
Guaranteed income, also known as basic income, refers to local programs that pay a cash allowance each month to participating beneficiaries. Most existing guaranteed income programs have a predetermined end date for each beneficiary to stop receiving benefits. The goal is to gather data on the societal benefits of guaranteed income programs to inform… Read More »
The Financial Plight of Single Seniors
Financial stress feels different, depending on your age. When you are young, you worry about providing necessities for your young children, or you motivate yourself with daydreams of providing financial stability for the children you will have in the future. Relief might come in the form of a new job, or of money inherited… Read More »
Don’t Let Student Debt Tank Your Housing Application
Student loan debt is an example of how youthful mistakes, or even simply youthful inexperience, can follow you around for years. If you graduated, then the debt balance you still carry can make your awesome GPA seem less impressive. If you did not, then you are probably quick to correct anyone who thinks that… Read More »
What If Credit Card Interest Rates Were Capped at Ten Percent?
Credit card debt is a major source of financial stress for millions of Americans, and a big part of that is the high interest rates that credit cards charge. If you are paying the minimum payments on your credit cards every month, the outstanding balance that you owe barely changes from one month to… Read More »
Can Family Caregivers Keep Their Medicaid Benefits Beyond 2026?
The most judgmental people in the world, from guys who click on rage bait all day long to wannabe trad wives to your own mother-in-law, will tell you that it is pathological to enjoy your job and that doping so makes you a materialistic egomaniac. What they don’t realize is that you work even… Read More »
How to Keep Your Financial New Year’s Resolution
If you have made it through the first third of January and have stuck with your New Year’s resolution, you are either extraordinarily talented, or else you are no spring chicken. A lot of people make ambitious New Year’s resolutions on January 1, but when the champagne buzz fades or the hangover clears up,… Read More »
Underwater Car Loan Blues
Anyone who says that it is easy to live without a car in South Florida without a car. Yes, cars are expensive, but trying to get where you are going without a car costs so much money and time that it leaves you worse off than if you had not gone at all. People… Read More »
Does Your Insurance Money Have to Pay Other People’s Debts?
Insurance salespeople often tell you that, when you buy insurance, you are buying peace of mind. If you have ever filed an insurance claim, your experience is probably the opposite. Insurance claims adjusters find every excuse to pay less on your claim than you need, distorting your words to use them against you and… Read More »