Archive for the ‘Personal Finance’ Category

Last week, I wrote about Social Security, specifically about some of the useful information I culled from the Social Security Statement for my mom. There was an interesting comment from a reader, ToughMoneyLove, regarding the benefit of delaying your retirement because the Social Security Administration gives you 8% bump in benefits each year. [...]

If you like to shop online but haven’t tried Ebates before, here’s chance for you to get a $10 sign up bonus and save on your future purchases. Ebates works with over 900 online merchants to provide you with rebates and discounts on your purchases.
Note: The $10 sign up bonus is good through September [...]

I was introduced to Gap Insurance when I bought my new Honda Element in December 2005. Gap Insurance is an insurance product designed specifically for buyers who purchase their new car with financing — in other words, those who will be upside down on their auto loan.

Photo by Lyle58 via Flickr
What Is An Upside [...]

Prioritizing retirement savings against paying down student loans is a very common money management question for young workers today. This wasn’t the case in prior generations where college graduates start their first job with less student loans and were offered pension as part of their benefits package.

Photo by Grisei via Flickr
When I started out, [...]

On Friday, I received my Social Security Statement and looked closely at it for the first time. Although, I have been getting these statements for years, I have never paid too much attention to them until now. The reason? My mom is turning 65 this year, and I need to figure out her [...]

Recently, I was tagged by Be This Way to share my five financial goals. I have been meaning to update my goals, but never got around to it — so this is as good a time as any. Here are the five three goals (I stole the idea from This Wasn’t in the [...]

A few weeks ago, my wife and I visited my sister and she made us a few cups of espresso, cappuccino, and cafe latte with her new Nespresso D290C Concept Automatic Espresso Machine. I must admit the coffee was great. My wife loved the machine and decided that we should have one also. [...]

Since I write about selling unused stuff on Craigslist and eBay, I just want to share my recent experience with you. Basically, you have to be careful with who you are dealing with when you are selling in these online markets. There are a lot of scammers in these marketplaces and you [...]

On July 18th, I responded to Mrs. Micah Single Step Personal Finance Challenge and said that I will try to finish up my estate planning in 2 weeks. Alas, I am a procrastinator and didn’t get anywhere near completing it. So I committed to complete the first of four steps in the Suze Orman’s [...]

This is the 8th issue of the Ask The Expert column by Larry Swedroe. You can see Larry’s full biography and important disclaimer below. If you are interested in having your question answered by Larry, please send me an email via the contact page.
Now, let’s get to the questions and answers (please note that the [...]