In case you haven’t heard, I just wanted to point out that President Obama recently signed the so-called “Cash for Clunkers” program into law. Starting July 1st, would-be car buyers can get a $3500-$4500 credit for trading in their “clunker” and purchasing a more fuel efficient vehicle.
Officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) [...]

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Being frugal doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy yourself. Believe it or not, you can still go out and have a good time. In fact, there are plenty of ways to cut costs while still being able to join friends for an occasional restaurant meal.
The first step is to know exactly how much money [...]

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This is a guest post by John of Mighty Bargain Hunter. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.
Americans collectively have well over a billion credit card accounts. Some of those accounts make the credit card companies very, very rich. I’m talking, of course, about those that belong to [...]

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This is a guest post by Neal Frankle, a CFP and author of Wealth Pilgrim. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.
Imagine that you just heard Jim Cramer talking on CNBC about a “guaranteed” way to make a fortune with your investments. Upon hearing this, you have three [...]

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By the time you read this, we’ll be deep into a roughly 3k mile roadtrip. The good news is that the bulk of the driving is packed into the first and last couple of days. As such, we’ll be able to recover (and fish, swim, etc.) in between. The better news is that I’ve lined [...]

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Today I thought I’d step outside of the purely financial realm and talk a bit about self-improvement. While many of the following thoughts can improve your finances, they have the potential to have a much broader impact on your life.
Focus on your passions
“Anyone can dabble, but once you’ve made that commitment, your blood has that [...]

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Back in December, I put together a list of ways to earn extra money. Embedded within that list was the suggestion to sign up with a site like CashCrate, which pays you to fill out forms, take surveys, and/or sign up for free trials. While I’ve only messed around with it a bit, I received [...]

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Remember back in February when I first talked about the $15,000 homebuyer tax credit? Well… It seems that Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA), the original sponsor of that bill, is back at it again.
In addition to increasing the maximum tax credit from $8,000 to $15,000 (with a max of 10% of the home’s purchase), Isakson’s proposal [...]

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Unless you’re careful, mixing family and finances can be a recipe for trouble. For example, lending money to family members is a great way to ruin relationships.
Another challenging area is when your parents find themselves in a financial mess, and you feel compelled to step in and offer guidance. How do you help with a [...]

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This is just a quick update to say that I’ve received the initial payment on four of the forty Lending Club loans in which I’ve invested. Because these loans funded over a period of weeks, the repayment dates are somewhat staggered, and have just started coming due.
Thus far, everything has been paid on time, though [...]

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