Unless your last name is Trump or you were recently the last “Survivor” in Somoa, you’ll probably need a mortgage to purchase a home. Not many folks can afford to pay cash for a more than $100,000 purchase. But to get a mortgage, you
Over the last three years, there has been no bigger news story than personal finance. And for good reason. Most economists agree that our home-buying habits (fueled by dangerous lending practices) contributed to the Great Recession. Plus, most Americans were
Today, I’m guest posting at Tinfoil Tiara on the CantonRep.com. It’s not likely that our nation’s poor math skills caused the housing crisis or the Great Recession, but it’s likely being confident in math can help you stay out of debt and
On Wednesday, I showed you how to calculate the amount of money you’ll need in retirement — based on a variety of variables, including your pre-retirement income, the percentage of that income that you can live on in retirement and the number
With a presidential election comes big speeches about Social Security and Medicare. But if you’re a cynical 40-something (or younger) like me, you’re not planning on being able to depend on those programs being viable in 20 or more years. Nope, I
What’s the most common math question I get from grownups? Easy: What’s the big deal about compound interest? For some reason, this idea stumps some very smart people. But the whole thing is pretty simple really. (Ha!) It all comes
Ever get in one of those organizing moods — looking for ways to save money, save time, save brain cells? That’s so me right now. I haven’t done a good financial audit in a while. Now that my daughter’s in middle school, I’ve
I wrote the following post for Simply Budgeted last August. Given our topic this month, I thought I’d share it as a great example of how parents can extend learning outside the classroom. Enjoy! You probably find it pretty darned easy to
Last week, we had some fun with the order of operations at the Math for Grownups facebook page.* Turns out remembering the order that you should multiply, add, etc. in a math problem is a tough thing for adults to remember.
Today, I welcome Annie Logue, a terrific writer who specializes in business and economics. When she offered to write a guest post about the difference between good and bad debt (with a particular emphasis on student loans), I jumped at the
How about these scary statistics: 1. In the U.S. student loan debt is huge. Last year alone, students took out $117 billion in federal student loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that the total U.S. debt has now exceeded $1 trillion. And
Need to make a big purchase, like a house or a car? Take out a loan. Want to go to college? Take out a loan. Need to cover other expenses, like home renovations or an adoption? Take out a loan. Want to consolidate your