By David John Marotta As Americans try to spend less and go on a budget, this provides an opportunity to teach the next generation financial principles they may never have seen in the prosperous years they have been alive. Here are ten principles for teaching children about money: Talk about money. Every time money is [...]
The process of buying a home and securing a mortgage can be very confusing if you don’t know what you are doing. That’s why it’s always important to do your homework. Obviously researching the mortgage process and the terms is very helpful, but perhaps the most important research you can do is in your own [...]
The other day on the light rail I sat near a woman. Let’s call her Sally Jesse. Sally Jesse spun her head around every time we stopped, asked everyone around her what station we were at, and promptly swiveled around to stare at the roadmap. Then a full 3 stops before Sally Jesse made her [...]
By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky Many seniors look forward to saving on medical insurance costs by enrolling in Medicare at age sixty-five. However, navigating the Medicare system is not for the faint of heart. Medicare is an alphabet soup of plan choices. Currently Medicare is organized as parts A through D. Medicare [...]
Ah, it’s that time again. Time to begin planning yet another vacation (the sixth for this year). And time for well-meaning (I think) friends and family to ask, “How do you afford to go on so many vacations each year when we can’t even afford one? You must be putting it on credit cards or [...]
Gas prices are on the rise and have been forecasted to possibly reach $4.00 a gallon by this summer. This news sends many people into shock, but for me, it hardly makes me bat an eyelash. Granted, I don’t like spending extra money on anything, but I know that even if gas does go up [...]
By David John Marotta With the end of the year quickly approaching, how do things look? Specifically, are you on track to meet your goals? Have you measured? What gets measured is more likely to be accomplished. Computing your net worth once a year is the first and most important step toward financial security. Net [...]
When my husband and I were in the market for our first home, we were excited to take advantage of some of the first time home buyer programs we had heard so much about. After all, we were in fact first time home buyers and this would be the only time we’d be able to [...]
With the rising costs of fuel, food, and everything else, I am seeing more and more people turning to “Get Paid To” (GPT) sites in order to earn some extra spending money. But can you really make money, and what are the risks? For those not familiar with the lingo, a GPT site is one [...]
I understand the argument behind the advice of putting at least a 20% down payment on a house purchase. No one wants to pay private mortgage insurance and the idea of getting two different loans to avoid it isn’t that great either. I imagine if you are a previous homeowner and have some equity from [...]
