Monthly Archives: October 2024
Facing Your Tax Debt After the October 15 Filing Extension Deadline
When you filed for an extension on filing your income tax return back in April, the new deadline, October 15, seemed like a lifetime away. You have been filing for extensions on your tax returns almost every year for as long as you can remember, and every year, you manage to put together the… Read More »
Inside the Underwater Car Loan Epidemic
This month, the CNBC website published more bad news about American consumers and their car loans. We already knew that vehicle prices are beyond almost everyone’s budgets, but good luck getting to work in Florida without a car. Likewise, we already knew that, even when we work around the clock, and our job and… Read More »
Wait Times Between Bankruptcy Filings
Filing for bankruptcy feels like a reset, like accessing a bonus life in a video game, but how many bonus lives do you get? Seeing your debts disappear is exhilarating, or at least it brings you a feeling of relief, but then life goes on. Eventually, the record of the bankruptcy case even disappears… Read More »
Beware of Bottom of the Barrel Bankruptcy Filings
On the first business Monday of every year, employees of the family court order their morning coffee with an extra shot of espresso and head to work to find the biggest stack of new divorce filings that they will see all year. While epic fights during the holidays are the impetus behind some of… Read More »
Will Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Make Your Financial Situation Better or Worse?
The federal Bankruptcy Code includes many different categories for bankruptcy filings, but most individuals who file for bankruptcy protection use chapter 7 or chapter 13. Which category should you choose? The Google snippet answer is that, if you have a steady income and own assets beyond the bare necessities, you should file for chapter… Read More »
How to Improve Your Credit Score When You Are Broke
Google is not known for its emotional intelligence. If you ask Google how to improve your credit score, it will tell you to open one credit card account and take out one non-revolving personal loan and never to use more than 30 percent of the available credit on your credit card. Of course, Google… Read More »
Are Any Budgeting Methods Even Feasible?
When people who make a living giving personal finance advice tell you that you should budget, it feels the same as when physicians in private practice tell you that you should diet. You work 80 hours per week, and another 10 commuting, and you could spend the other 38 on meal prep and traveling… Read More »
Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure
Foreclosure, where the bank that issued your home mortgage petitions the court to declare it the legal owner of your house, which you have pledged as collateral on your mortgage loan, is a costly and agonizing process. Almost any other resolution to a situation where a homeowner has fallen behind on mortgage payments is… Read More »
Can the “Girl Math” Social Media Trend Help Your Finances?
Whoever first decided to use the term “girl math” to refer to purchases that do not have an immediate effect on your bank account balance had a keen sense of clickbait. It inspired the clicks of men who blame their current and former wives for wrecking their finances, as well as women whose minds… Read More »
Is Reverse Budgeting Only for Rich People?
It must be nice to be rich. You get free checking accounts and low interest loans. If you manage to get in over your head with debt despite earning a high income and borrowing money at low interest rates, you can file for chapter 13 bankruptcy, where you do not place any of your… Read More »