Save money on auto financing by knowing your credit score and leveraging competing loan offers at the dealership. Put money down, keep the term as short as you can afford, and—of course—don’t buy more car than you can afford.Here’s how to finance a car the smart way: Bring competing offers to the dealer, put money down, and keep the loan term short.
The post How to finance a car the smart way appeared first on Money Under 30.
Homebuyer competition is fading fast in these key places across the country.
Early retirement has become a popular financial goal. And well it should be. Even if you never retire early, just knowing that you can is liberating! And it may just be the strategy that frees you up to take on even bigger challenges in life. That can happen when you reach the point where you […]
The post How to Retire at 50 in 7 Easy Steps appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.
I’ll admit it: There are times that I think everything that needs to be said about personal finance has been said already, that all of the information is out there just waiting for people to find it. The problem is solved.
Perhaps this is technically true, but now and then — as this morning — I’m reminded that teaching people about money is a never-ending process. There aren’t a lot of new topics to write about, that’s true (this is something that even famous professional financial journalists grouse about in private), but there are tons of new people to reach, people who have never been exposed to these ideas. And, more importantly, there’s a constant stream of new misinformation polluting the pool of smart advice. (Sometimes this misinformation is well-meaning; sometimes it’s not.)
Here’s an example. This morning, I read a piece at Slate by Felix Salmon called “The Millionaire’s Mortgage”. Salmon’s argument is simple: “Paying off your house is saving for retirement.”
Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with this basic premise. I too believe that money you pay toward your mortgage principle is, in effect, money you’ve saved, just as if you’d put it in the bank or invested in a mutual fund. Many financial advisers say the same thing: Money you put toward debt reduction is the same as money you’ve invested. (Obviously, they’re not exactly the same but they’re close enough.)
So, yes, paying off your home is saving for retirement. Or, more precisely, it’s building your net worth.
But aside from a sound basic premise, the rest of Salmon’s article boils down to bullshit.
When I published my first HelloFresh review last June, I liked the popular meal-delivery service. Kim’s employer had given us a one-week free trial. The three recipes we received were fun and tasty. In the end, we chose not to sign up with HelloFresh but resolved to remember it for the future.
At the end of 2018, as I was evaluating my spending patterns, I was shocked by how much I was spending on food. It’s embarrassing to show the following numbers, but facts are facts and truth is truth. I was spending over $1100 per month on food.
“Something needs to change,” I told Kim. “Maybe we should try HelloFresh again to see if it can help us cut costs.”
“Do you think so?” Kim siad. “Isn’t HelloFresh kind of expensive?”
“It’s not that bad,” I said. “Besides, if having meals delivered can keep us from dining out so often, and if it can keep me from splurging at the grocery store, it might actually save us money.”
I signed us up.
For two months — January and February — we received three HelloFresh recipes each week. Based on our experience, here’s a new, revised review of HelloFresh.
So youâre paying for your new property in cash. Congrats! Making a home purchase with cash can give you a lot of power at the negotiating table. But at the same time, it can also leave you stuck wondering whoâs paying for the closing costs. To make sure youâre fully prepared, read on for our… View Article
The post Who pays for closing costs in a cash sale? first appeared on Total Mortgage.
The government announced new, short term but open-ended policies for federal student loan holders. Here’s what you need to know to manage student loan debt.
The post How to Manage Student Loan Debt During COVID-19 appeared first on MintLife Blog.
Some BIG Changes to Mortgage Costs Were Just Announced Mortgage News Daily
Is LASIK surgery worth the cost? Or am I better off buying contacts and glasses for the rest of my life? Plus, a lesson on stocks.
One of the main reasons Kim and I decided to move from our condo to this quiet country cottage was to save money. We were spending far too much living in the city.
Simply moving made a huge difference to our budget. But now that the dust has settled, it’s time for us to look at other aspects of our spending to see where we can save. As part of that, I’ve been reviewing our recurring expenses to see what I can cut. Yesterday, I canceled our subscription to The New York Times (savings: $5/week or $260/year). Today, I’m reviewing how much we spend on TV and movies.
It seems hard to believe, but it was ten years ago that I first “cut the cord”. Since then, I’ve used the Apple TV device to access most of my video entertainment.
In March 2007, my then-wife and I canceled our expensive TV package and moved to just basic cable. Our monthly bill dropped from $65.82 to $11.30. We supplemented our viewing with Hulu (free at the time), Netflix, and by purchasing shows from the iTunes store.
I’ve been cable-free for a decade now. I haven’t missed cable even once. Some folks are amazed when they hear I don’t have cable. “How do you manage?” they ask. Yet I am amazed that more people haven’t made the leap to a cable-free lifestyle. It’s easy.
One of the biggest objections I hear is, “What about live sports?” People pay big bucks just so they can have ESPN. Honestly, there are plenty of ways to watch live sports without cable. Sling, for instance, offers a package with ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3. Plus, Kim and I have found that if we really want to watch a game, we’ll just head to a local sports bar where we can join the crowd over a burger and a beer.
In 2007, I calculated that Kris and I were spending $27.90 each month to watch television. If we added in our Netflix subscription, that total rose to $44.89. Not bad.
Reviewing our current expenses, however, I see that Kim and I currently spend $83 per month in subscription fees — plus whatever we spend to buy individual movies and TV shows on iTunes. Holy cats! How did that happen? We’ve experienced a bit of lifestyle inflation in the TV department.
Let’s review the different services we use — and how much we pay for them. Maybe there’s a way we can save some money.