As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and more!

Search: debt

Calvin March 2013 Net Worth

by Luke Landes
Calvin Net Worth March 2013 Naked With Cash

Naked With Cash is the year-long series on Consumerism Commentary where seven readers’ households share their financial progress on a monthly basis, and April is “tax month.” I’ve partnered with financial planners who will offer some guidance along the way. Read this introduction to learn more about the series. Calvin is in his early 40s, ... Continue reading this article…

2 comments Read the full article →

LastDollar March 2013 Net Worth

by Luke Landes
LastDollar Net Worth

This month is Insurance Month in the series Naked With Cash. Each month, seven Consumerism Commentary readers anonymously share their financial reports to gain insight about their progress towards their goals. Read this introduction to learn more about the series. LastDollar is thirty-three years old, an entrepreneur and single mom with two children with learning ... Continue reading this article…

8 comments Read the full article →

Financial Role Models vs. Money Classes

by Luke Landes
Financial literacy and role models

Non-profit organizations and for-profit businesses promote financial literacy education as the solution to a society of citizens unskilled with managing their own money. If only we could have mandatory money management classes in high school and earlier, advocates claim, the United States would be a nation of savers, free of most debt other than mortgages, ... Continue reading this article…

9 comments Read the full article →

5 Responsible Uses for Your Tax Refund

by Luke Landes
5 responsible uses for your tax refund

For most citizens of the United States, tax season is over. There’s no longer a need to run around gathering documents. You’ll stop seeing television commercials for TurboTax and H&R Block in which each insinuates the other is a deficient company. You can stop thinking about government’s wasteful spending and income redistribution — which always ... Continue reading this article…

9 comments Read the full article →

Keep Your Old Credit Cards Open

by Luke Landes
Credit Cards

There may come a time when you have no need to keep your credit score as high as possible. Perhaps you have no need for debt now and in the future. It’s not common, but there are a few methods of arriving at that point. You’ve fashioned a life for yourself off the grid. You ... Continue reading this article…

6 comments Read the full article →

Prepaid Debit Cards Are Riskier Than Checking Accounts

by Luke Landes

Thanks to heavy marketing campaigns, including endorsements and partnerships with everyone from Russell Simmons to Kim Kardashian to Suze Orman (it’s hip! it’s popular! it’s financially smart!), use of prepaid debit cards has surged. Prepaid debit cards were once a fringe financial product. They were intended to be used by people who have a communal ... Continue reading this article…

4 comments Read the full article →

Psychological Barriers: Admitting There’s a Problem

by Luke Landes
Barrier

It’s difficult to get into this topic without sounding too much like a motivational speaker. I am strongly averse to most motivational training. Here’s my problem: Motivational training, in the corporate world, encourages teamwork — good — but often at the expense of personal identity and independent thinking — bad. The nuances are subtle, though; ... Continue reading this article…

8 comments Read the full article →

Who Needs a Budget?

by Luke Landes
Money Jar

There are a number of excuses for ignoring the concept of budgeting for one’s own personal finances. Budgeting has a poor reputation. It’s not fun, it’s time-consuming, it’s depressing. While budgeting can be one of the most important steps for beginning a journey towards financial independence, there’s a tendency to ignore this in favor of ... Continue reading this article…

13 comments Read the full article →
Page 2 of 11212345···50100···Last »