background preloader

102 Personal Finance Tips Your Professor Never Taught You

If you're anything like me, you graduated from college and perhaps even took a finance class or accounting class here or there, but you didn't learn anything about managing your personal finances. In fact, there probably wasn't even an opportunity to take any such class in either high school or college. But if college is partly about training us for a job, shouldn't we learn what to do with the money we earn from a job? Especially in a country where 45% of college students are in credit card debt and 40% of all Americans say they live beyond their means, I think it's time to wise up to some of the challenges of money management. A few (say, 102) simple financial tips can help get your money life (back) on the right track. The Painfully Obvious But Rarely Followed Tips Pay yourself first. Career and Education Get educated. Credit and Loans Get a rewards card. Frugality Buy a used car. Homeowning Upgrade your old bathrooms and kitchens. Insurance Insure yourself against financial ruin. Saving Related:  Money \ Budgeting \ Charity

Overdraft bank fees cost billions By Daily Mail ReporterUPDATED: 11:24 GMT, 24 September 2008 ONE in three people with a bank overdraft ends up paying an extra £100 a year in punitive charges, according to research. They are charged up to £25 four times a year because they exceed the agreed limit on their current account. Some banks then charge up to £35 for each transaction after a customer goes too deeply into the red. However, research shows that many people simply lose track of how much money they have in their account. A report commissioned by the online bank Egg found that most people have 'an extremely poor understanding of the financial status of their current account'. The report found that more than 60% do not know how much money is in their account at any one time. But the resulting charges reap the financial institutions up to £1.3bn each year. The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has expressed concern at overdraft charges after claims that banks are exploiting them to boost their profits. Which?

46 Things I Wish My Mom Taught Me About Money + New .COMs $7.99/yr plus 18 cents/yr ICANN fee. Discount based on new one-year registration prices as of 1/27/2012 with sale price reflected in your shopping cart at checkout. Discount applies to new registrations and renewals and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. Domains purchased through this offer will renew at regular price after the initial term has expired. 1 GoDaddy.com is rated the world's largest hostname provider according to Netcraft®.

How to Make a Spending Plan Debit Card Traps and Fees To Avoid: The Latest Target of Thieves A new law means new loopholes, new outrages, more fine print, and bigger bucks—for the credit card companies. ©2010 Jupiterimages Corporation If you don’t already hate your credit card company, see how you feel in 20 minutes. Did you finally think you’d caught a break when the government tightened laws to protect consumers? In advance of new regulations meant to protect us (many of the provisions took effect February 22), issuers raised rates, jacked up minimum payments, lowered credit limits, and tacked on even more crazy fees to protect their bottom line. The craniosacral therapist in Richardson, Texas, who charged $45,000 to finance her education and who had a good payment record? The freelance editor in Tallahassee, Florida, who always pays her balance in full? Now that the new consumer-friendly law has taken effect, we can all just get along, right? Q: Under the new rules, banks can’t mess with my interest rate, right? A: Maybe. Q: So I have the right to refuse the new rate?

How My Net Worth Went from $-40,000 to $285,000 in Five Years ∞ This is a guest post from FrugalTrader, who blogs about personal finance from a Canadian perspective at Million Dollar Journey. In 2003, my girlfriend (now wife) and I graduated from university with nearly $50,000 in debt. This debt was a combination of my wife’s $30,000 in student loans and her $20,000 new car loan. Since I learned fundamental saving habits at a very young age, I managed to graduate university debt-free with $10,000 in savings. Over the past five years, our financial picture has changed drastically. How did we do it? Here’s how we did it: We minimized our housing costs. Using these six steps, we have turned our financial situation around. For those of you who follow my blog, you know that we have recently upgraded our lifestyle with a new house. Photograph by jenn_jenn. This article is about Real-Life

Home - Modest Needs® 73 Great Debt Elimination Tips | zen habits Post written by Leo Babauta. Last week, I asked you all to give me your best advice for getting out of debt. And boy, did you deliver. More than 70 of you chimed in with some amazing advice, and shared your success stories, and shared your failures. It was overwhelming, and I applaud you all. To take advantage of all the great advice you gave, I’ve compiled a list of the best tips below. It is not a step-by-step guide. There are also contradictory tips. I hope this serves as a valuable resource — let me know what you think in the comments, and feel free to add your tips! Don’t get into debt.

Oklahoma - Unclaimed Property On July 1, 2000, the State Treasurer assumed responsibility for the state’s Unclaimed Property Program. Every state has an unclaimed property program. The purpose of these programs is to return unclaimed property to rightful owners. Property is considered unclaimed when there is a lack of activity generated by the rightful owner of the property. Unclaimed Property in Oklahoma is listed on reports published twice each year in newspapers and is now available here: Search For Unclaimed Property. The Uniform Unclaimed Property Act is located in the Oklahoma Statutes at Title 60, section 651 et seq. You can complete the PDF Inquiry Form online but you must print it off, sign it and then send it to us. Administrative Rules

Individual - Savings Bond Calculator Find out what your bonds are worth with our online calculator. The calculator will price Series EE, E, I bonds, and Savings Notes. Features include current interest rate, next accrual date, final maturity date, year-to-date interest earned, and more... To find what your bond is worth today: Click the 'Get Started' Link above or the button at the bottom of this page to open the Calculator. To build an inventory of bonds: Repeat the above process for each of your bonds. To find what your bonds are worth in other months: If you'd like to see what your bonds were worth in the past or will be worth in the near future: Change the 'Value as of' date at the top of the calculator to the desired date. Not sure what data the Calculator is giving you? If you have questions about any of the fields that are displayed, click the 'Help' button at the top of the calculator. Want to save your inventory? Now you can save your inventory so you can update your bond values quickly and easily. See Also:

About Payday Loans | PaydayLoans.org Payday loans are short-term loans. The loans range from 13 to 120 days. The most you can borrow is 25% of your gross monthly income or $1000 whichever is less. The finance charges, fees or interest (whichever term you prefer) are extremely high compared to other forms of credit. Here’s an example, let’s say you borrow $300 until your next payday. When payback day comes, you either pay directly or the lender cashes the post-dated check or debits your checking account. Following are some of the issues with payday loans: Interest rates range between 390% to 900% and most lenders do not accurately disclose the interest rates.A report from the Center for Responsible Lending indicates payday loan borrowers pay an average of $793 in interest on a $325 loan.You tend to find these businesses located in poor neighborhoods and close to military bases. Following are six unsavory business practices used by unscrupulous payday lenders. This consumer believed the ad. Buyer Beware of Payday Loans

12 Things Every Teenager Needs To Know About Money (And How To T By Guest Author on April 15, 2009 This is a guest post from Grant Baldwin, the author of Reality Check, a book about helping students transition into the real world. His new website, BrokePiggy.com, answers questions from teenagers about personal finance, savings, and all things money. This series “12 Things Every Teenager Needs To Know About Money (And How To Teach Them)” is a community blog experience. This post is only one of the 12 points in the series so to view the other 11, please visit the list of links below. Two Words: Compound Interest We all remember those days of sitting in a math class listening to a teacher talk about theorems, abstract algebra, or differential equations. When am I ever going to need this? Don’t deny it. Compound Interest. Ok, maybe you still didn’t grasp compound interest then, but hopefully you’ve seen the light by now and wished you did grasp it better back then! Which one of these options would be worth more? Pretty wild huh?

Related: