Recent Blog Posts
Predatory Pricing at Supermarkets
It is easy to feel that, in today’s society, our brains have received so many disturbing stimuli that we have shut down and cannot feel emotions anymore. Life is an endless cycle of frustrations brought on by financial hardships, plus Internet content that invites itself at all hours of the day and night to… Read More »
The Digital Coupon Divide
The Visual Capitalist website recently published a map showing the countries that have the largest populations of non-Internet users. The country with the largest unconnected population is India, but part of the reason for this is that India is the most populous country full stop. More than 80 percent of the population of Ethiopia… Read More »
The Consumer Debt Crisis Lingers On
Living paycheck to paycheck does not get easier the longer you do it. With each passing pay period, you only become more tired, even as the outstanding balances on your debts do not budge. Before you know it, you are engaging in revenge bedtime procrastination, reading fascinating and intellectually challenging books when you should… Read More »
Is Auto Pay a Debt Trap?
Almost anything that promises to make your financial situation better can also make it worse if you let it. Consider buy now pay later (BNPL). It does not charge interest, and the monthly installment payments are low, but the BNPL debts can quickly add up if you make too many new BNPL purchases before… Read More »
Will Downsizing Your House Improve Your Finances?
Consumers figured out that giving up their daily McDonald’s breakfast on their way to work barely made a dent in their monthly budget. Eventually the “brew your coffee at home and watch your credit card debt disappear” content stopped getting clicks, so personal finance experts stopped producing it and started saying what cash-strapped consumers… Read More »
Think Twice Before Assuming Someone Else’s Mortgage
Journalists have been saying for at least a year that the only way you can afford to be a first-time homebuyer is if your parents give you money for a down payment, co-sign with you on the mortgage loan, or both. Where does that leave the rest of us who do not have wealthy… Read More »
How Do the Holidays Affect Your Bankruptcy Plans?
It is no fun to listen to teens yap about how their stress will skyrocket to unbearable levels if you take away their devices even for a short time, but the fact that people are more open about their emotions now than they were a generation ago takes away one of the many stressors… Read More »
Credit Card Debt After Retirement
The list of outdated personal finance axioms keeps growing. For example, by now everyone knows that going without your morning coffee shop run will not make much of a dent in your debts, and when was the last time you saw someone who could afford to pay their credit card down to zero every… Read More »
3 Exit Ramps From the Road to Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy protection can bring fast and significant relief from unaffordable debts, and everyone has the right to file for bankruptcy, but if it were as easy as it sounds, then everyone would do it. Even though the bankruptcy court accepts almost all filings and eventually discharges the applicants’ eligible debts, filing for… Read More »
Loan Origination Fees
Everyone knows that, the wealthier you are, the less it costs to borrow money. Some people focus on getting lower interest rates on loans as an incentive to improve their credit scores, but this is not the only difference in the cost of a loan. Lenders can charge origination fees, equal to a percentage… Read More »