A Dil-egg-ma. Have you ever noticed the more eggs you buy, the more expensive each egg becomes? It seems to defy the "laws of bulk shopping". No matter what store you go into, the 12 count of eggs is less expensive PER EGG than the 18 count. Why do you [...]
Understanding the Poverty Level There are certain events in life that cost based on a sliding scale. Three of the largest items are student loan repayments, medical bills, and down payment assistance when buying a home. Most of these payments are based on what percentage you are of the poverty level. For instance, at Tampa [...]
The Glass Half Full When looking to fix your credit, often times you have to make a decision on what accounts you need to focus. You will get much more lift in your score addressing the POSITIVE things on your report than the negative. This means making sure that the balances on your cards are [...]
Penalty & Penalty Free Reasons to Pull Out Of A 401k The decision to pull out of 401k can keep you up at night, weighing the pros and cons with the decision. There are penalties as well as tax consequences you may incur that diminish the benefit. Here are some situations you may find relevant. [...]
"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."- President Bush Jr. Budgets do not have to be these complicated excel spreadsheet nightmares. As a matter of fact, your budget should be as simple as it possibly can be. There are, however, some essential ingredients to a good, sound budget: 1) Realism. [...]
Change Begets Change. The easiest way to change those around you is to change yourself. As long as you allow the same thing to happen, the more people will impose it on you. Don't let the banks continue to charge you fees. Don't allow your lender to strip your investment down to a loss because [...]
Stuff happens in life. There is nothing we can do about that. Sometimes this stuff appears as an opportunity- sometimes as an obstacle. Truth be told, you could win the lottery and it could be the worst thing that ever happened to you. Conversely, you could lose your job and it can be the best [...]
Gifting of Equity Can Serve as Your Down Payment If you are buying a home from a relative, the relative can gift you the equity in the home to take the place of the down payment or closing costs, according to Loan Originator, Christine Forest of Supreme Lending. Gifting can only be done by a [...]
CRO or MLM? When hiring a credit repair company (legally termed a Credit Repair Organization, or CRO), look carefully at what the company really does. Most credit repair companies are fraud. Other companies, fraud or not, simply are inappropriate because of conflicting goals. In this mix are multilevel marketing companies, or MLMs. The goal of an MLM [...]
New Waiting Period for Reporting. Medical debts can be as convoluted and hard to understand. One medical stay can produce billing for multiple doctors with multiple billing companies, requiring multiple payments. Often times the confusion leads to bills being unpaid unawares. Well, there is good news. New developments in reporting standards for charged off medical [...]
