Most of us groan when stores start displaying holiday decorations before the kids have gone back to school, but they may be on to something. In fact, the smartest way to shop is to forget about “Black Friday” and start your shopping in the summer. Here are eight reasons it will have you ho-ho-hoing come…
While December is typically considered the traditional “budget-busting month,” September, with the back-to-school season, is close behind. In fact, the back-to-school shopping season is the second largest shopping event of the year, with 29 million households expected to shell out $27.6 billion in 2018, according to Deloitte. But any parent with school-aged children will tell…
If you had to pay an unexpected $400 bill today, would you be able to without reaching for a credit card or asking for a loan? If your answer is no, you’re not alone. And you need to keep reading this blog. A large proportion of working Americans are in the same boat, lacking liquidity…
By Andrew Melnyk, Chief Economist and Vice President of Research, American Council of Life Insurers Last week, Fred Schott of The Council for Disability Awareness outlined an approach to answering the following question: how many working Americans have (or don’t have) some form of private disability coverage? It is an important question because, as we know, Social…
Have you checked your credit score lately? Nearly half of Americans haven’t looked in the past six months, and one in seven respondents to a recent survey never have. It could be costing you. For example, you might not be getting the best rates available on everything from cell phone service to car insurance to…
People learn differently — and these learning styles can carry over to how people interact with their finances, too. You may not have thought about this before, but tailoring the way you learn about money based on your preferred learning style means you’re more likely to excel at managing your finances. Not sure what your…
Disability insurance provides critical financial protection to American workers. Yet it’s a highly misunderstood form of insurance. You probably have health insurance, home or renter’s insurance, and car insurance. But what about your need for income protection insurance? Disability insurance pays you a portion of your income when an injury or illness takes you out…
Credit card debt is a painful reality that more and more American families are living with. According to ValuePenguin, the average credit card debt for American households that carried a balance in 2017 was a massive $16,048. The 2017 American Household Credit Card Debt Study by personal finance website NerdWallet came to a similar conclusion, showing…
Many people are struggling to gain control of their finances. According to a LendingTree report in 2017, four in five Americans are in the red—and a quarter of those in debt do not have a plan to pay it off. By building a budget, you can gain clarity into your financial situation. This is a…
You see them jogging with strollers or walking in the baby food aisle. Maybe you’re one yourself. Today, more women ages 40 – 44 are new mothers. After decades of decline, there has been a jump in the increase of older moms. In a new analysis of census data by Pew Research Center, 86 percent…
