Category Archives: Debt
Financial Literacy Is the First and Easiest Step to Feeling Financially Secure
The feeling that you are in control of your situation is as empowering as it is illusory. By the time you are old enough to live paycheck to paycheck, you know that many of the factors that influence your financial situation are beyond your control. Your medical debt exists because healthcare is unfairly expensive;… Read More »
Tax Refund Dos and Don’ts
If there is a bright side to the insufficient pay that most of us get for our hard work, it is that we at least get a tax refund once a year. The working people of the United States spend every day subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich who have access to expense accounts… Read More »
Car Loans Are Uglier Than Ever
The economic conditions of everyday life in South Florida have never been worse, at least not for as long as today’s working adults can remember. The price of some groceries has decreased since its peak, but overall, grocery receipts are still as painful to look at as they were during the worst days of… Read More »
Beware of Earned Wage Access
If you have ever taken out a payday loan in person, you would choose almost any other way of borrowing money, if it were available to you. Anything is better than taking a long bus ride when you are exhausted after work and then walking to a poorly lit strip mall with bright neon… Read More »
Paying Down Your Debts One Day at a Time
Getting out of debt is a marathon, not a sprint. The only way to pay off your debts all at once is to receive a windfall such as a lottery win or an inheritance, or else to take out a debt consolidation loan. The first only happens if you are extraordinarily lucky, and only… Read More »
Budgeting Out Loud Is a Prosocial Way to Get Out of Debt
Being broke is lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck, but hardly anyone talks about it. Somehow, it is more socially acceptable to talk about the big splurges that you wish you could afford than about the instant ramen noodles that await you after the long… Read More »
How Can Young People Help Their Families Build Generational Wealth?
Some people start thinking about building generational wealth when their children are born or when they start to think seriously about having children. They stress about providing a financial cushion so that their children can have an easier time getting established financially as adults and, simply, to grow up in an environment where financial… Read More »
What to Do If You Can’t Pay Your Taxes by Tax Day
No one really looks forward to Tax Day. It is with Schadenfreude that we watch judges threaten celebrities with jail time after the celebrities fail to fulfill their millions of dollars of tax obligations. Being one of the lucky few who get a tax refund is a double-edged sword. It means that you are… Read More »
3 Middle Class Debt Traps
If you are living paycheck to paycheck on a household income of more than $100,000, you are in a better financial position than many. It certainly beats having a lower household income and not even being able to keep up with your bills. The reason that so many gainfully employed people find their entire… Read More »
How Dismal Is the Debt Situation in Florida?
You’re broke, and so is everyone you know. Everyone is in debt, whether they earn an hourly wage automatically transferred to a debit card because they can’t afford to open a bank account or whether they earn upwards of $100,000 per year, but every month’s salary goes to bills and installment payments on debts… Read More »