Get the latest tips and tricks to help you save money effectively
You don’t have to spend that much money to wish someone well.
With a little ingenuity and hustle, you can pay cash for unexpected expenses instead of racking up credit card debt.
If you live in a select big city, you can take advantage of Amazon Fresh to get groceries to your door. If not, there are alternatives. Read our review.
Drop is an app that provides rewards from brand purchases and lets you use the points earned toward gift cards. Find out how well it works in our review.
Brush off that wilted spinach and climb out of the grocery store dumpster.
You don’t have to max out your credit card to enjoy that hard-earned vacation.
If you’ve already maxed out your 401k employer match but still feel you’re behind, there are steps you can take to avoid outliving your retirement savings.
You don’t have to sideswipe your budget every time you hit the highway.
If you blow off the tip to save money when dining out, karma is cooking up a special dish just for you.
If you dig a little deeper into your fixed expenses, you may find they’re not so fixed after all.
If you’re convinced that all thrift store clothes are shabby, it’s time to fine-tune your shopping style.
If you want to teach your kids about personal finance but don’t know how, don’t fret! These books teach money lessons about the value of a dollar bill and more. We asked several experts in the finance space their personal favorite books to teach kids about money. See what they had to say and set […]
Learning about money is boring. Board games are fun. Play one and teach your kids a lesson without them noticing.
Don’t ask Alexa, we’ve got you covered.
The Goalsetter app teaches kids how to save and earn money, and can be tied into an adult’s bank account for allowance or gifts. Read our review today.
You can start by shopping around and keeping your credit in good shape.
Garage sales are both rewarding and risky. Here’s how to score a deal every time.
Wismo, or Where I Spend Money, is a personal expense tracker and budget planner that’s free for iOS and Android. Find out how well it works in our review.
Acorns is an innovative app that helps you invest money with spare change easily. It also includes many other smart investment tools. Read our review.
Prescription drug costs have been on the rise with no sign of slowing down. Here are a few ways you can save.
Swagbucks is a free online rewards program that earns you money by taking surveys, watching videos and downloading games. Does it work? Read our review.
We love our pets, but that doesn’t mean we have to go broke for them to be well-fed.
Having poor credit can make saving money and buying a house more difficult. Believe it or not, it can also put a strain on your love life.
Here are several tips for finding the best inexpensive and free summer activities and programs for your hyperactive kids.
Learn what to put into a hurricane survival kit, so you can be the most prepared ahead of time should disaster strike your area.
Boost your savings with these tips and tricks.
From food to bathing suits, there is no reason to pay top dollar to celebrate.
If working on that budget made you procrastinator of the year; here are 10 awesome no-fail Fathers Day gifts you can have delivered just in time for Dad!
Retailers sell products they don’t actually have in-house. And you can make money doing the same.
That little student ID card can get you big savings, on everything from new cars to your next meal.
There are a few ways to cut back on spending hidden in your policy.
Investing is one of the best ways to create wealth. Money Girl and Chris Hill from The Motley Fool discuss common investing barriers and the best investment to own for long-term financial success.
Before your trip, don’t forget to buy travel insurance. This often-overlooked coverage is a bargain for the big benefits.
Many Americans are offered one through work but don’t take full advantage.
Earning less and living longer makes retirement planning harder.
A typical savings account can’t yield the same results.
Opting for a used car is a cheaper alternative to financing a new one. But they can come with mechanical issues and even a higher theft rate.
One way is to get pre-approved. Another way is to fly to Florida — really.
A car is one of the biggest purchases you can make. Here are a few ways to get your money’s worth over time.
Here are all of the avenues to consider before taking out student loans.
As student loan debt continues to climb, students and parents alike aren’t using all available resources to save money on college.
They learned from watching their parents’ finances tank during the Great Recession.
Hint: Only the last one involves books.
There are plenty of good deals out there if you just take time to sniff them out.
When you plan ahead and opt to travel during a different season, saving money on vacations isn’t that hard.
Hotel costs are rising — but you can still take an affordable trip without sacrificing a comfortable room.
From using airline credit cards to intentionally getting bumped off a flight, here’s how to save on airline travel.
We’d do anything for our furry friends — including break the bank. But that doesn’t mean we have to.
Those little purchases may seem harmless, but they add up to a dangerous amount.
The civil rights activist’s financial advice and opinions have often been overlooked.
Anytime you can set up a system to work without you, it’s more likely to work. If you have to remember to set aside money each month before you spend it, it’s less likely to occur. So, you want to make savings automatic.
The best idea is to ask your HR department to split the Direct Deposit for your paycheck. Allocate 5-10% of your income to deposit directly into your savings account while the rest goes to checking. This way, you don’t even have to think about setting money aside. Otherwise, set up a recurring monthly transfer from your checking to your savings account.
Your first savings goal should be to have a $1,000 balance that you maintain in your main savings account. This should be the minimum balance that you try to keep in the account so you have funds to cover most emergencies. Then you can use the funds if your car breaks down, you have an expensive home repair or an unexpected medical bill.
As you’ll see below, this is not the full financial safety net you need. But it’s a good, solid first milestone that you can aim to achieve.
A true emergency fund is big enough to cover all your bills and necessary budgeted expenses for up to 6 months. This means you can be out of work due to unemployment or a medical issue for half a year without facing financial distress. You don’t have to rely on high interest rate credit cards to cover your expenses or take out costly payday loans.
Total up all the necessary expenses in your budget and multiply by three. This gives you the next savings milestone you should aim for after your basic $1,000 emergency fund.
A traditional savings account typically has an interest rate of less than 1%. In fact, 1% is considered a “high rate” when it comes to savings accounts. The problem is that such a low rate means it takes a long time for your money to grow. You’ll be lucky if you ever achieve your goals with such little growth.
In order to save money effectively, you must make those savings grow effectively. This means you need better growth rates than your basic savings account can offer. Without more robust investment tools, it will be hard to achieve stable long-term savings.
If you don’t like the risk of the stock market and you prefer to start small, look to cash equivalents first. Cash equivalents refer to any investment that you can easily convert to cash. This actually includes basic checking and savings accounts, as well as investments like Money Market Accounts and Certificates of Deposit.
Money Market Accounts function like savings accounts, except they usually have higher minimum balance requirements. The applied interest rate is usually higher, too. In fact, most MMAs work on a tiered rate system. This means the more you save and the higher your account balance, the higher your rate of return, too.
CDs are a type of short-term investment that also offer better rates for saving. You deposit a certain amount of money that matures over a certain term; typically, terms range from one week up to five or ten years. At the end of the term, you withdraw the money or let it roll over for another term. This type of savings can be good to hit specific goals like we will describe below.
Think about savings in terms of specific goals that you want to reach. For instance, you would have your basic savings and emergency fund, long-term retirement savings, and then savings that you allocate for certain purposes. This will help you save strategically and ensure the money doesn’t get spent.
So, let’s say you want to buy a car next year. You have $3,000 in savings that you want to use for the down payment. If you put that money into a 12-month CD, it can grow for a year and it’s not sitting in your savings account where it can get spent. Allocating savings this way helps ensure you can pay for specific goals with less need for financing. You can also pay for things like vacations without high interest rate credit card debt coming home with you.
