Monthly Newsletters

How to Invest Creatively in Your Fall Vacation this Year

Sneaking away during the lull between peak times – “the shoulder season” – is popular with savvy travelers for reduced crowds, milder weather and usually great deals on travel packages.

Monthly Newsletters

Comparing Traditional Mortgages and Variable-Rate Mortgages in the COVID-19 Economy

Do you know what it was like to buy a house in 1982? You pulled up your Trans Am to the bank where the picture of President Regan hung on the lobby wall and got your checkbook out of your jean jacket. Then you signed up for a 30-year mortgage with a 17% interest rate!

Monthly Newsletters

Paying Off Debt: As You Work Toward Debt Freedom, is the Snowball or Avalanche Method Right for You?

Debt consolidation and repayment takes up a lot of America’s bandwidth. You can’t watch TV, especially daytime TV, without seeing at least one advertisement promising you freedom from debt – call now! These gimmicks are hit-and-usually-miss, but the sheer ubiquity of this conversation tells us it’s on everyone’s mind.

Monthly Newsletters

How to Put the Hard Financial Lessons of Quarantine to Work for You

Wait – gas cost how much?! This is a question we may ask our parents or hear from our kids with some incredulity. This intergenerational conversation has a humorous side: gas was a quarter a gallon – how? You must have filled up everyday!

Monthly Newsletters

How to Use a 529 Plan to Help 2020 Grads Celebrate-In-Place During Coronavirus Quarantine

Warmer weather comes with a few traditions: well-kept lawns, baseball stadium lights, open windows. And every year in May and June you’ll see the balloons on stop signs and borrowed folding tables in the open garage, proud parents snapping pictures. The graduation party is a universal rite of passage.

Monthly Newsletters

The Tough Get Strategic – Financial Strategies for a Market Downturn

When the going gets tough, the tough get strategic. Headlines you read at breakfast might be contradicted by lunch, and the ups and downs of the market could give anyone vertigo. But now is not the time to panic – now is the time to take a deep breath and strategize.

Monthly Newsletters

What Changes (and What Doesn’t) with the FICO 10 Credit Score Update

Anyone who uses a computer these days won’t be too surprised to see an update notification pop up on the screen. While you’re reading your email or playing Scrabble, irritating little boxes will jump in front of you declaring your virus protection out of date or offering a new, improved version of whatever app you’re using. It’s a part of modern life.

Monthly Newsletters

Financial Caregiving for Those With Alzheimer’s and Dementia

On an otherwise normal Thursday afternoon, a reporter had lunch with a resident from a memory care facility. Apparently, he asked for details on some kind of story and the confused patient was happy to comply and enjoyed the meal out. Then the police showed up.

Monthly Newsletters

Why We Don’t Keep Our Financial New Year’s Resolutions

So, did you hop on that new Peloton this morning or have you already broken the streak? Which diet are you planning on starting next week … or maybe the week after? Has your December credit card statement come in the mail and perhaps inspired you to make money-related goals in 2020? New Year’s resolutions are nothing new – neither is breaking them.

Monthly Newsletters

How to Give More than Stuff for the Holidays

Think about the best holiday gift you ever received. For some of us, that memory is pretty murky, but chances are you’ll come up with a toy you played with until it fell apart, or the bike you rode until the wheels fell off. Think about the “frame” that memory is in: was the gift exactly what you told your parents you wanted?

Monthly Newsletters

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